Hacking the S Plan
by DragonintheLibrary
Summary: Eliza Quinn is a computer hacker who was recently laid off work and is currently freelancing to pay the rent. However, there are some jobs you should just never take, no matter the payment, especially if it involves the most powerful company in Tokyo. MBI is a dangerous enemy to have, and as Eliza gets drawn into the Sekirei Plan, her list of enemies will only grow. Female OC/Harem
1. Chapter 1

Eliza knew she was in way over her head and should probably be thinking of a way out of her current predicament but the oppressing feeling of the two large security guards escorting her down an extremely metallic corridor, had her mind stuck on a loop and not even a very intellectual one at that. Her brain had decided to just repeatedly throw out every obscene word she knew to the backing of her and her escorts pounding footsteps that were bouncing off the walls, announcing their presence to everyone on that floor. The guards held her arms, one arm to each of them, securing her in a muscle sandwich that she definitely felt she was lacking in comparison and thought it was a bit over kill considering she couldn't exactly escape them with all the cameras and personnel around.

Her entourage lead her to a secured door, entering a pass code and using a security card before almost dragging her into the room as soon as the beep from the console sounded. Once inside Eliza was roughly forced into a stiff backed chair and her wrist cuffed to one of the arms of that chair. The guards then stood back silently, most likely awaiting their boss' arrival and Eliza's doom. She sighed, knowing this wasn't going to end well at all. Looking around the room she noticed the wooden desk in front of her, tidied to an immaculate level, a large comfortable chair behind said desk, blank walls that were barely decorated except for a dull cream colour and strangely enough a huge mirror opposite the door, showing anyone entering the position of everything and everyone in the room. It seemed very strategically placed and unfortunately allowed her to look at the state she was in.

Her short, pixie cut red hair was sticking up in odd places, her skin looked even paler than her usual English complexion in the current light and the darkness under her hazel eyes due to lack of sleep, and perhaps staring too long at her computer screen, were not helping her vampiric look. She was wearing her favourite blue hoodie, a crumpled white shirt, having had little time to iron it while she had been working though it wasn't as if she normally made much time for washing and cleaning, dark blue jeans and scuffed trainers. All in all she looked completely out of place with the impeccably dressed Japanese guards behind her, not that she usually didn't stick out like a sore thumb though at least she spoke the language so therefore wasn't completely out of place despite her appearance.

Eliza sat stiffly still, trying not to move too much as not to rub her wrist against the rather tight metal cuffs that kept her perched awkwardly on the chair. Silence consumed the room with barely a breathe or rustle from the other occupants and the lack of noise did little to ease the young women's nerves, which seemed to be sky rocketing. She didn't know who she was waiting for, doubting the head of the corporation would bother with someone like her but not knowing what to expect, only that by what she could gather, the person was a strategic individual that scared the guards behind her so much they seemed even more out of place in the office than she did. The guards behind her radiated tension and Eliza highly doubted she was the cause of it.

Suddenly the crackling of a radio could be heard, rebounding through the uncomfortable silence, as the person on the other line spurted out, "Emergency on level 8," along with a code Eliza did not understand the meaning of. The guard to her right, nearest to the door and out of her line of view, spoke into the device, confirming the order before making his way to the exit along with companion. With only one glance in her direction they left her alone in the room, locked to the chair.

"What the hell just happened?" Eliza thought to herself and she glance around the now empty office. Had they really just left her alone? Was this just some kind of trick to see what she would do? Were they just playing with her? Well it didn't matter really, she had to at least try to get out of here and luckily she knew how to break into more than just computer systems. Leaning forward slightly so she could see the lock on the handcuffs, Eliza pulled up her sleeve revealing her black strapped watch which had pushed into the fabric a thin metal ridged rod of sorts. Glancing quickly to the door as if she could see when someone was coming, the red head pulled the rod out of her watch and got to work on her bonds.

Soon a satisfying click was heard then the clatter of the handcuffs hitting the floor and Eliza was on her feet, moving to the door. She didn't know how much time she had left or where her escorts had gone, for all she knew they could be waiting outside the door. She reached for the panel, wishing she had her laptop here as she heaved on the metal covering that protected the circuits, somehow finding the strength to dislodge it enough to access the hardware. As Eliza set to work on opening the door she could almost hear the time ticking past and feel the guards closing in. It was fortunate she had something to occupy her hands with otherwise they would be shaking but thankfully soon the beep sounded indicating her success and she was moving.

Once out the door she realized she had no clue where the exit was, she had gone down far too many corridors on the way up here and she had sort of been distracted by her soon to be fate that it hadn't crossed her mind to take note of any escape routes. Irritated at herself, the nineteen year old decided that the opposite way to the one she came in was her best choice. Taking off at a fast pace she made her way down the corridor, glancing nervously behind her as she went.

Eliza abruptly stopped as she heard footsteps coming towards her, looking around she dived towards the nearest door, hoping it was unlocked but finding it wasn't. Her breathe started coming in short bursts, she could feel herself panicking. 'Can I make it in time if I go back the way I came?' She questioned in her head as she spun around but then noticed the ajar door ahead her, towards the people she was trying to avoid. Not thinking it through Eliza ran to it, slipping through the gap and shutting the door behind her. She rested her forehead on the hard surface as she tried to catch her breath and listen for the anyone following her.

"Who are you?" A loud female voice demanded from behind Eliza, making her jump and spin around to face an odd sight. In front of her stood a small pink haired girl in a hospital gown, looking extremely annoyed and quite intimidating despite her small stature. Her red eyes, the colour of which Eliza was filing away as an issue to confront at a less stressful time, narrowed when no response was given.

The smaller girl looked Eliza up and down before commenting, "You're not wearing a lab coat so you're not a tuner..." Her voice trailed off slightly in thought as the red head still stood, frozen to the spot, waiting to be discovered as a trespasser. Just as she started to move forward, eyes rising to look for another exit and catching a glimpse of a grey haired girl just behind pink hair though before she got more than a step, the small red eyes girl was in her personal space, forcing her to back up to the door. "Are you..." She began to ask, her finger pointed between hazel eyes and she flushed a similar colour to her hair. "But you're a girl." She exclaimed taking a stumbling step back, almost tripping over her own feet.

Eliza's eyes widened, not knowing how to respond to the unfinished question or the sudden outburst about her gender but it seems she didn't need to make sense of it as laughter suddenly filled the room and the pink haired girl's attention switched to the source. Hazel eyes also turned to the grey haired girl who was doubled over with laughter. She was sitting on an examining, wearing a similar hospital gown, with bandages covering any skin that the gown didn't.

"What so funny!" The girl standing yelled as she slightly advanced on the amused of the pair, giving Eliza some breathing room as she observed the laboratory for an exit, passing over all the medical equipment without a second glance until she found a door just beyond the occupied examining table.

Catching her breathe long enough, the bandaged girl informed them of her amusement, "Did you really expect a guy to want a washboard like yours?" She laughed again while Eliza could feel the anger radiating off the pink haired girl, she looked about ready to murder someone and Eliza was going to make sure it wasn't her.

"Shut up!" She yelled, crossing her arms defensively over her chest and poking out her tongue in a childish manner when she seemed to not be able to think of a better response. While this was happening Eliza was moving to the door, slowly trying to not be noticed by the two arguing girls.

As the grey haired one continued to tease the other, her face flushing and her breathing became more laboured but not due to the laughing however all this went unnoticed by Eliza using then to make her exit. Luckily the two strange girls were distracted enough by their argument to notice her absence and once she had left the room she set off running.

* * *

Eliza was breathing heavily as she attempted to keep up a brisk pace through the park near her apartment, having somehow managed to escape the labyrinth of corridors and security systems. Night had already started to close in and it seemed to be getting colder and colder the further she got through the park. Hugging her arms to her chest to stave off the oddly cold weather, Eliza tried to make a plan which would get her out of town and away from danger all while dealing with the reason she had got caught in the first place.

She picked up her walking pace, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact with the few people out this late or in this weather. Briefly she glanced up to see how far she had left to walk until she reached her place and that's when she spotted the young women. She sat hunched over on a bench, with what looked to be just a thin white shirt on which was not at all suitable from the temperature. Eliza could almost feel the waves of pain and sadness coming off the brunette women and it was unbearable, she should do something to help her.

However as she took a step in the women's direction, Eliza remembered she hardly had the time to help or was in the condition to do so. No, she had to get out of here, she didn't have time to stop. Turning, she carried on towards her apartment pushing on and away from the bench.

"Don't do this to yourself Eliza. Just Ignore her." She thought to herself sternly, "Go home, grab your stuff, leave town and get the hell out of dodge. How hard can that be?" The to do list echoed in her mind like a mantra, driving her faster away from danger until she had seen her and now her feet were slowing to a stop. She couldn't just leave her there alone in the cold when she could at least offer some assistance and before her mind had even caught up with that conclusion from her conscience, her body was moving back towards the bench. It seemed her self preservation had been lacking lately and just seemed to be fading altogether now. She hoped she wouldn't regret this.


	2. Chapter 2

As Eliza changed her course and headed over to the unknown women, she realised she didn't have a clue on how to approach her. What was she going to say? Did she just go over and introduce herself? Ask to sit down? How do you talk to someone who clearly does not want company? Also she was a stranger, why would this women open up to her? Would she let her help?

Eliza took a deep breath, trying to still her nerves which seemed to have been taking a beating all day, she could do this or at least try. Raising her head to look at the half dressed brunette who was actually wearing what seemed to be a blood stained lab coat rather that the white shirt she had assumed it was, confirmed her actions. She had to help now, the women could be injured, bleeding and if so the least she could do was get her to a hospital. Breathing in deeply one last time as she came to stand before the half dressed women, something about the lab coat nagging at her mind, she cleared her throat hoping to get the bench's occupant's attention.

It took a moment, which in the state Eliza was in felt like ages, for the brunette to acknowledge the red heads existence and when she did it was with a disinterested look, only lifting her head up enough to hold the teenager in her line of sight. Said teenager gulped now that she had the stranger's attention, pressing her crossed arms harder to her chest as a cold breeze sent a shiver down her spine. There was no going back now.

"Er.." Her mind blanched on what to say, whatever plan she had flew away with the cold winds so she decided to go with the first thing she could think of, which was probably not going to be her best idea. "Aren't you cold out here?" Eliza asked.

"Great start, bet she's really happy she bothered to look up now." Eliza mentally chastised herself, "Well at least it's a start and you didn't just stand there." She argued in her head, trying to at least look on the positive side of her attempt to make conversation.

"It doesn't matter."

Eliza nearly jumped at the response, having been consumed with mentally arguing with herself, she was startled by the quite response, spoken with a defeated tone. The answer confused and saddened the younger women and only strengthened her resolve to try and help.

"Well of course it does," She started trying to express a friendly tone into her words. "If you stay out too long in the cold, you'll get sick."

The sitting women lowered her head to stare at the concrete at her feet, "It doesn't matter. I am already broken." The words were spoken so quietly, Eliza almost missed it but the resigned tone was unmistakable.

"Well it matters to me if you freeze to death out here." Eliza stated firmly, not knowing how such an amazing looking women, or anyone for that matter, could feel that way or should feel that way. Unzipping her hoodie, she pulled it off and resting it on the older women's shoulders, hoping she'd use it to at least keep slightly warm. Eliza realised standing in the wind probably wouldn't do her any good either and chose to sit down on the bench, trying not to sit too close or move too fast in order to not make the women uncomfortable or frighten her. She wasn't sure what had happened to the brunette but she didn't want to make it worse by any of her actions though she decided to ask. "Why would you think you're broken?" Eliza asked sincerely.

"I was discarded, unwanted." The brunette informed her though as she did so, she put her arms into the hoodie, drawing it closer and trying to take some of the heat from its owner to warm her icy skin. It was fortunate Eliza preferred baggy hoodies as otherwise the hoodie would not have been able to cover the larger breasted women's chest, a problem Eliza herself rarely had an issue with in relationship to tops.

Before Eliza could argue that point, with 'how could anyone not want you' or 'you don't need anyone you can be amazing on your own', she hadn't decided which yet, the other women continued. "I am marked as such." With that statement, she turned her head to face Eliza, revealing a crimson tattoo from behind the light brown fringe that had previously covered it. The markings adoring her forehead seemed to be of some sort of bird with a yin yang symbol below it.

Eliza eyes widened slightly but she wasn't that surprised by people's appearance after the earlier red eyes. She wasn't sure what the significance of the tattoo was, if it had some cultural meaning or if it was personal so she decided to take the route that would address both. "You're more than a simple marking, it doesn't define who you are. You do." 

The other women seemed even more surprised by Eliza's response and even more so that the markings on her head hadn't given the younger women reason to leave her alone like she believed she deserved. However before the brunette could make a rebuttal to the red heads statement, voices could be heard from a distance, loud enough to carry to the pair.

"She was last spotted heading in this direction." A male voice carried on the winds from the direction Eliza had just raced from.

"Oh no." Eliza muttered, eyes darting to the entrance of the park. She hadn't been quick enough, they'd caught up and now they were going to catch her. She jumped to her feet ready to run but realised she was meant to be helping this women and from what she'd heard Eliza couldn't just leave the defeated women sitting alone on this bench.

While Eliza had been worrying about going back to handcuffs, the women on the bench had sagged further than her already slouched position, knowing now that the kind stranger who had given her warmth was going to leave her. She shouldn't have hoped, the teenager knew she was broken and who would want a bird with broken wings? The brunette was about to remove the hoodie and hand it over to the waiting hand when she standing girl decided to speak.

"How about we go to my place, it's warmer there and we can continuing talking in private." She finished, her eyes darting nervously in the direction of the male voice, before looking back at the sitting women who seemed to hesitate taking the hand offered to her. "Don't worry I'm not a murderer or anything." She joked trying to ease the other women's nerves, especially if she couldn't control hers but what she said might have had the opposite effect. "Anyway I think you could take me if I tried anything." She smiled down at the brunette, chuckling slightly nervously.

Slowly Eliza's offered hand was taken and she didn't hesitate in pulling the older women up and pulling her along towards her apartment, not wanting to wait around. "Let's quickly get into the warmth, I think we've spent enough time outside." She told the women she was dragging along beside her, trying to explain her rush and she thought she heard an 'ah' in what sounded like agreement.

* * *

By the time the pair reached Eliza's apartment the only part of the red head that was reasonably warm was the hand that had been clutching the other women's throughout the journey. She lead the brunette through the front door and up the first flight of stairs to the door at the end. Fishing out her keys with her left hand, the other one currently occupied, was quite a task and trying to get it into the lock could have gone less clumsily but eventually the door was open and Eliza lead them in.

However just as the brunette closed the door Eliza loudly said, "Oh damn," and spun to face her, letting go of her hand. The older women looked startled and maybe a bit frightened as to what she was going to be told, thinking perhaps the red head's mind had changed but Eliza didn't noticed, too busy mentally calling herself an idiot.

"I've dragged you back to my place but I haven't even introduced myself." Pulling her arms to her side she bowed slightly, trying to use the correct custom and be polite to her guest. "My name's Eliza Quinn." She introduced herself as a relieved looked quickly passed across the half dressed women before a neutral expression returned. She then mimicked Eliza's actions.

"My name is Akitsu."

Eliza smiled at her now named guest, "Nice to meet you Akitsu and it seems my lack of socialising has hindered my social skills a bit, can't believe I forgot to make introductions." She laughed off nervously, rubbing the back of her neck subconsciously due to the slightly embarrassing moment. "Now how about I find some clothes for you, I'm sure I can find something to fit." Eliza continued trying to get past the moment as she went further into her apartment, "And you can use the shower to warm up."

Akitsu followed silently behind, listening to the red head ramble on as she took in the apartment. There was a 3 piece sofa and armchair to the left of them when they entered, facing a second hand TV with an old game console hooked up to it, all of which made up the living room area. Straight ahead from the front door was a dining room table and past that was a empty doorway that lead to a quite small kitchen. To the left of the kitchen was a short corridor with three doors, the end one Eliza pointed out to as being the bathroom and the one next to that as the guest room.

Eliza stopped walking and stood at the entrance to the kitchen, facing Akitsu. "Er Akitsu, there was blood on your clothes, are you injured at all?" She tentatively asked before quickly adding, "Because if so I've got bandages and stuff in the bathroom."

Akitsu shook her head calmly stating, "The blood is not mine."

There was an awkward pause where Eliza wasn't sure if she should question that or just let it pass, after all was it a good idea to question someone who had another person's blood on them. So instead she looked down at her wrist watch and decided to move past that point. "Well it's getting late, why don't you use the shower first while I put some food on. There are towels in the bathroom and I can probably find you something to sleep in." Eliza smiled at the brunette trying to make her feel at ease. Said brunette nodded and headed in the direction on the bathroom, saying a quiet "thank you" as she passed.

Eliza went and grabbed some tupperware out of the fridge, emptying the content onto a tray and putting it into the microwave. While Eliza could cook edible food she usually avoided having to actually cook and considering the time and the day she had, she wasn't in the mood to attempt preparing a meal from scratch. Plus the near emptiness of her cupboards didn't really help in that respect either.

After setting the timer the young women headed towards her bedroom, searching the wardrobe for a pair of shorts and a large enough top to fit Akitsu, again thanking her usual style of baggier tops and not form fitting ones. Once she found what seemed to be suitable bed wear for her guest she left it outside the bathroom door, knocking on the door. "I left some clothes by the door." She yelled over the running water before heading back to the kitchen.

* * *

Akitsu was joining her at the dining table, wet hair sticking to her forehead, shorts and what was once a baggy top was now very form fitting so that it showed of her assets which had Eliza averting her gaze so she didn't stare, as the red head dished up dinner. "Sorry it's just left overs, I need to go grocery shopping." Eliza informed Akitsu as she took a seat at the table. The brunette thanked her again before digging in, she was definitely hungry.

Dinner passed rather quickly, the food having disappeared mostly due to Eliza's house guest, who then offered to clean up for her. "Thanks for clearing up Akitsu." She smiled at the brunette who's lips twitched slightly upwards in response, "I'm going to take a shower, you can take the guest room next to the bathroom." Eliza grabbed something to change into for bed and went into the bathroom.

* * *

On her way back to her room, towel drying her hair, Eliza thought about the hectic day she'd had and what she was going to do the next day. She didn't know if they knew where she lived and if they didn't it wouldn't take them that long to track her down, not to mention the deal she had to finish before she could start running. If she ran now, Eliza would have twice as much trouble following her around and she didn't think she could handle the problems she had now. Not to mention her new house guest, what was she going to do about her. She could leave, let her have the apartment for however long her rent lasted but what if they came looking for her? Was she willing to leave Akitsu to deal with it alone? She sighed wondering why things could never just ever be simple.

Upon entering her room, Eliza spotted the very person that complicated her escape plans perched on the end of her bed. She halted in the doorway not entirely sure how to approach as Akitsu looked up at her. "Er.." Eliza intelligently started, unsure of where she was going with that brilliant sentence starter.

"May I sleep here tonight?" Akitsu asked in her usual low tone, though her cheeks flushed slightly at the question.

"Er well..." Eliza started to answer but was interrupted.

"I don't want to be alone." She almost whispered and she sounded somewhat frightened but Eliza couldn't be sure.

"Yeah, sure why not?" Eliza answered smiling, "It's a double bed." Dropping the towel in her hand on the radiator by the door and heading to the black and white decorated bed that took up most of the room along with the wardrobe. As she climbed into bed, Akitsu following suit, Eliza decided she would worry about her problems tomorrow, for now she would have a good night sleep while sharing a bed with a beautiful women and with how this day started, this was certainly not how she expected it to end. She was oddly interested in how tomorrow would go though her fear for the next days events was sort of dampening that mood however. Eliza would just have to wait and see what else life was going to throw at her.


	3. Chapter 3

Eliza woke to a slightly oppressing force pushing down on her chest, which was probably the reason she was getting pulled from her slumber, and for a moment panicked under the unknown weight until she remembered the previous day's events and her unexpected house guest. However when the memories did come flooding back she wished she hadn't woken up at all because now that she was awake she needed to get on with her day and find a solution to the mounting dilemmas that seemed to be ready to crush her.

Opening her unwilling eyes, she was greeted by the not entirely unwelcome sight of the peaceful, sleeping face of Akitsu resting on her chest, dozing soundly. The brunette's arm were wrapped around Eliza's torso, making moving quite the challenge along with one of her legs cast across the red head's own. Pulling her gaze from what Eliza would only admit in her head was an adorable sight, she looked to the digital alarm clock that flashed 7am. Eliza made a disgruntled noise, this was too early after the late night yesterday, and the nights before that, for her to be getting up this early though now she was awake she had to get up. How to do that without waking Akitsu was the question.

First she tried to wiggle out of the other women's arms but found the grip was almost vase like. Then she tried lifting the arms off, which turned into prying the arms off and that still didn't work. Eliza had been right about not being able to take this women in a fight and it seemed she'd have to wake her to have any chance of getting out of bed, she just hoped this calm looking women was not a monster in the mornings.

"Hey," Eliza half whispered, moving her free right hand, the one not sandwiched between their bodies, to shake Akitsu slightly on the shoulder. To which the brunette just cuddled further into Eliza's chest, smiling and showing the most emotion the teenager had seen from her and all while she wasn't even conscience. "Hey, Akitsu." She repeated louder and with a harder shake than previously eliciting a slight murmur from the sleeping form before eyelids began to flutter.

Blurry eyes squinted up into hazel, "Morning ash..." Akitsu mumbled before stopping herself and lowering her eyes, the action lead her to stare at Eliza's chest.

The slip up confused Eliza but she assumed it must have been a past partner or something if she would wake up saying it. "Morning Akitsu." Eliza smiled down at her, rubbing the brunette head to ease whatever bad memory might be attached to that name. "Sorry to wake you but I need to get up and well.." She let the sentence trail of as she indicate with her hand towards her current predicament, Akitsu seemed to sag slightly maybe due to the loss of touch or being asked to move Eliza wasn't sure, she couldn't read the other women yet, not that she planned to be around her long enough to learn.

Eliza felt the arms holding her retreat as their owner rolled over, seeing her exit, the teenager slipped out of bed, padding bare foot over to the door. As the reached the handle, she turned back towards the women still occupying the bed, "Why don't you go back to sleep, it's still early after all." Akitsu nodded, though she no longer seemed that tired but was now curling up where Eliza had been previously been laying. Exiting the room, Eliza headed to the kitchen to make some coffee, believing she may be needing it to stay awake this morning, it was going to be necessary for her to be alert when working.

Along the way she picked up her phone that she had left by the sofa near the TV, where she had forgotten it the previous day and went to drop it on the dinning table. She really had to keep a better track of her phone, not that she received many calls until recently, it would not do her any good to lose it. Her lack of communication through mobiles was shown by the zero new messages or missed calls, after all the phone was really only for emergencies, if that.

After she had made a cup of coffee, Eliza sat herself down at the dinning table and pulled out her laptop from where she'd half tried to hide it away on the seat, having been in a rush and not thinking to put it away when she had left the apartment yesterday. Plugging in her laptop charger she thought about the best route to get out of town, train or aeroplane? Which had less security and was harder to track? However before she could even press the on button her rarely used phone began to ring.

Eliza looked to the ringing device with the unknown number flashing on the screen. She really did not want to answer but it would only be worse for her if she didn't. She had come this far, she might as well finish what she started. Taking a deep breathe and a sip of coffee, the young women lent over to her phone and answered the call.

"Hello." The red head spoke into the phone, trying to attempt a neutral tone and not one of a nervous teenager, which is exactly what she felt like at this moment.

A distorted, assumably male, voice ignored the greeting and got straight to the point, "Were you successful?"

"Yes," Eliza answered first taking a deep breath before continuing the other person could respond. "I have the relevant data however the coding was corrupted during the transfer, it will take time to recover it."

There was a pause, the male most likely debating whether Eliza was telling the truth or not, before he responded. "Very well, do not make us wait long. We will be in contact." And with that, the beep sounded and the call was over.

Dropping her head into her hands, Eliza wanted to throw the phone at the nearest wall. With all her planing of running for the hills, she had forgotten about the corrupted data she had not had the time to fix, being too busy getting caught at the time, or the fact she had to hand said data over. Data she had to hand over at an unknown time because they could not have been more specific about when they would next call, could they?

At the sound of her bedroom door opening and closing, Eliza raised her head slightly from its resting place on her palms and watched as Akitsu make her way over to her, still wearing her top and shorts. The image made her smile a bit despite the stress that came attached to this particular job.

"Are you feeling okay?" Akitsu asked, concern lacing her words though her face stayed mostly emotionless.

"Oh er yeah." Eliza responded, sitting up straighter in order to at least act like her answer. "Just got some work to do, is all.' She smiled, hoping that one of them would believe her, that it was nothing important or anything to worry about.

The brunette nodded in response before speaking, "You should eat then, shall I make you some breakfast?" The question was asked in a soft sweet tone which was welcome in the early morning and especially after the conversation Eliza had just dealt with.

"While that would be lovely Akitsu but I only really have cereal left in my cupboards." The red head responded, having nothing suitable remaining in her kitchen that could be used to make anything, she didn't even have bread for toast.

However despite this, Eliza's house guest just nodded her head again and turned towards the kitchen in search of cereal and hopefully milk.

"Well that's nice of her,' Eliza thought to herself, "but then again with her supplying a place to stay for the older women, she probably just felt obligated." Shaking her mind of thoughts of Akitsu, the red head decided it was a good idea to get started on her work.

She turned on her laptop and waited for it to boot up while Akitsu walked over carrying two bowls of cereal, the sight of the brunette returning a smile Eliza's lips. "Sorry to ask but would you mind grabbing my keys for me, I think I left them on the bedside table."

With that Akitsu put down the breakfast and exited the room, leaving Eliza to log into her laptop, taking down the protective systems which were slightly annoying to do in the mornings and by the time the brunette had returned, she was logged in and digging into her bowl of cereal.

"Oh," Eliza swallowed before continuing, "Thanks." She took the keys that had her USB stick attached on the key ring, so she wouldn't lose or forget it somewhere, from Akitsu. She thanked whatever luck she had, that the guards had not had time to get round to emptying her pockets. If they had she would have lost the data and then it would have all been for nothing.

Plugging in the portable memory device as Akitsu started eating, Eliza got to work on downloading it's content onto her laptop and just to prove she was tired and not entirely focused solely on her work, something that completely had nothing to do with anyone else in the room, Eliza forgot to put up any safeguards on her laptop which lead to...

"Damn!" Eliza yelled, striking the table with her first and regretting it instantly. Hissing slightly as she tried to shake the pain off her hand and pulling out the USB with the other but it was too late. The virus that had corrupted her data was now eating away at her computer files forcing the red head to shut it down before she lost everything.

Suddenly, almost making Eliza jump out of her chair, Akitsu had somehow make it to her side and was softly touching her aching hand. "Are you injured?" She asked, looking very concentrated while checking for any damage from when Eliza had foolishly decided to take her frustrations out on a table.

"Yeah I'm fine thanks, not the best idea to hit things harder than myself." The teenager tried to laugh it off, not sure whether to pull away from the other women's touch or not, mostly going for not it seemed when neither of them moved.

"Why?" Akitsu asked gently and for a moment Eliza didn't understand the question, still staring at the hands gently examining her own.

"Computer issues." Eliza answered sighing before reluctantly pulling away and standing up. "I have to go sort something out and I need a computer so I'm going to head out." She said turning back to look at a neutral faced Akitsu, she added, "I shouldn't be too long." And with that she turned and went to get ready to leave the apartment.

* * *

When she returned, dressed in a similar style to the previous day but with a different hoodie, for some reason deciding to leave her favourite hoodie on her bed instead, Akitsu was still standing in the same place, beside the laptop. Despite her neutral expression something felt off about the older women, something in her eyes about being left alone in the house.

Moving over to the table to pocket her keys and the dreaded phone, Eliza reached out her right hand to rest it on Akitsu's arm left shoulder in order to turn her slightly so she was looking into the older and slightly taller women's eyes. "I shouldn't be too long." She felt the need to emphasise this point and reassure the women she was going to come back to her even if in the back of her mind it felt like a fake promise as when her work was over she would be getting out of town on the fastest train out of her, though part of her hoped she wouldn't be alone. A hope she didn't understand after only just meeting the women and one that it was probably best not to entertain.

Akitsu nodded, accepting Eliza's words but at the same leaning closer into her personal space, not wanting to be far away from the younger women. Looking at the time on her wrist, the red head thought it was best to head out now. She removed her hand from Akitsu and headed to the front door.

But before she left, she turned back around to face Akitsu who was watching her leave, "And when I get back we can go food and maybe clothes shopping too." She wasn't sure where the 'we' had come from, why she was making plans with this mostly stranger but it just didn't feel right not including her yet the almost smile she received in response made all those questions disappear as she left the apartment.

When the door closed behind her, Eliza's mind went back to the task at hand. She need a computer fast and she didn't have money to buy a new one so her only option was to use the ones at the local library. The teenager just hoped nothing went wrong on the way to get there, she did not want to have to deal with another escape attempt.


	4. Chapter 4

Surprisingly enough, Eliza's trip to the library was uneventful and even though she had walked it hadn't taken that long, plus the red head felt fairly confident that no one recognised her or was following her. With a slightly more relaxed posture than the one she had held throughout her walk, probably making her look rather suspicious or paranoid depending on who was viewing her, she walked up to the front of the library. This 'always having to look over your shoulder' period of her life, short as it may be, was something Eliza was not cut out for and she would be very happy when, or perhaps if now, she could get back to just playing video games and doing boring computer jobs. She even wished for her old menial tech job that while mind dulling was a much safer occupation than Eliza's current job description that involved risk to personal safety as a likely consequence.

Attempting to discard those disheartening thoughts, the red head scanned the library, thankful that most of the general public were sensibly still in bed or at least not at the library this early in the morning, for an empty computer spot. Looking around Eliza noticed the obviously students, who looked sleep deprived as if they had been here all night, which was entirely possible since this place was open 24/7, some falling asleep on their text books. She assumed most of them were cramming for the entrance of one of the biggest universities in Tokyo that was in a couple of weeks or so if she remembered correctly, having seen the signs posted around the area last time she was there. That had actually been one of the reasons the teenager had planned to avoid the library, not particularly comfortable in crowded enclosed spaces and this place packed with student was not somewhere she would have enjoyed spending her time in.

Luckily enough for Eliza most student had either finished last night or had yet to arrive, allowing her to find a free computer which she could start working on. Walking towards the computer in the far left of the library behind the study area, the right occupied by mostly book shelves, she passed a young man of similar age to herself sleeping of his palm, most likely having been here most of the night. The man had messy black hair that just reached pat his eyebrows and wore a white top and blue jeans and was sleeping over a large amount of textbooks. Eliza wondered for a moment if perhaps she should wake the boy as he probably wanted to revise but then again he must have been really tired to fall asleep here and might need the rest from the stress of revising. With this in mind the red head decided to leave him be and would wake him if he hadn't awoke before she left.

Sitting down in front of the keyboard she began hacking into the library's server, not wanting to log into her library account in case her online activity was being monitored, she did not want to take any risks. Once in she began encoding some safe guards into the system, knowing that this public server was highly unlikely to have any good protection against viruses, she had managed to hack in with no problems. While she was trying to improve the pitiful excuse of safety software, Eliza cursed herself for letting her own laptop to be corrupted, forcing her to go out of her way just to finish the job.

Glancing up and out of the window that showed a clear view of the centre of the city which unfortunately meant a clear view of the ugly and annoyingly tall MBI building that seemed to always be in sight no matter your distance from it. A shiver crawled down her spine and it wasn't caused by that horrid tower but rather a feeling of being watched, a feeling that had Eliza's paranoia increasing tenfold. Had she been followed? Had she slipped up when she hacked the computer? Her hands froze over the keyboard unsure of what she had done to get spotted and what she was going to do in order not to get caught again.

Suddenly the sound of a phone ringing went off and the sound of a thud as flesh hit wood could be heard, followed by a groan. Eliza jumped at the noise, turning her head to see the previously sleeping guy rubbing his face as he pulled out his phone, looking apologetically at Eliza for the disturbance. Raising the device to his ear, a female voice blared out in a scolding tone, the words Eliza could not make out, however the tone and conversation had the boy shrinking in his seat slightly.

Noticing movement coming toward the young man, Eliza's eyes changed focus to see an authoritative and stern women with half moon glassed. She had short grey hair, wore a light purple outfit with lots of frills around the neck and breast with a slit down the thigh and had a red spot on her forehead. For all intent and purposes she looked as much like a librarian, as if the job was made for her. Said librarian moved to the black haired guy, tapping him on the shoulder and indicating her should move away to avoid disturbing anyone, pointing towards Eliza in the process but not turning to face the red head.

Wondering why she had been singled out, Eliza looked around for the other students she had seen in the study area on her way over but found her and the young man on his phone were the only ones left. Odd. When had everyone else left and where had they gone, the library looked basically empty except for the three of them and that was soon going to be down to two. The connection finally sunk in and Eliza understood her feeling of unease, which seemed to be rising now she was aware of the lack of witnesses around. It was probably for her best interest to get out of there before any trouble began, avoiding conflict was a good plan in her opinion.

Remembering noticing an emergency exit just past the computer section when she arrived, Eliza believed this constituted as such. So with that in mind she shut down the computer and made a hastily exit, trying not to looked too inconspicuous as the women still seemed to be directed the male away from them. Once outside in what seemed to be a dead end alley, the door banging closed behind her, Eliza went to make her way towards the street, hopefully to get lost in the crowd but instead found herself facing the grey haired women standing at the end of the alleyway.

"How the hell?" Eliza thought, spinning back to face the closed exit door, she couldn't figure out how she had been beaten here but then thought it was probably not a good idea to turn her back to the stranger and was once again turned to face the would be librarian who was now a lot closer.

"Oh hey.' The red headed started nervously, backing up, trying to figure out an escape to what could be a dangerous event and probably would wind up with her injured and in handcuffs again, something she did not want to go through again anytime soon or at all really. "What can I do for you?" She asked trying to bide her time, hoping maybe an escape plan would come to her or she'd get really lucky.

The slightly older women was moving in fast, taking purposeful strides towards the retreating teenager who was running out of alleyway. "I've been looking for you." She calmly stated, seeming unaware or unconcerned with Eliza's nervousness.

"Ah really? Well guess you've found me so I can just be goin..." Eliza's back hit a wall and her head whipped around, hoping what she felt wasn't real and that she still had somewhere to escape to. She didn't. Seeing that her shoulders sagged only to tense up a moment later when she came face to face with the other women, hazel eyes looking into hazel. Eliza's words caught in her throat, sensing the other women's body just mere inches from her own, feeling her breathe on her face. Eliza didn't know what the women was playing at or what she was going to do next. It seemed she could only wait and see, her mind not being of any help to her at this point it time.

"My ashi.." The older women's breath was coming in pants and a extreme blush had reddened her cheeks, interfering with the stern and quite intimidating persona she had held herself with before. "Please," She breathed at the red head, almost desperately, "be my ashikabi."

"There was that word again," thought Eliza, "the one that angry pink haired..." However she didn't get to finish that train of thought as lips came crashing down on her own, causing a gasp to escape her lips which was swallowed by the kiss. The other women's body pressed against Eliza, effectively pinning her to the wall as her hands laid delicately on the red head's chest. However despite the unexpectedness of the kiss and the fact she was an unknown stranger, Eliza couldn't help but to relax into it, responding in kind as her eyes fluttered closed. The teenager's hands rose automatically to rest on the other women's waist as said women lent further into Eliza's body.

A blinding light flashed beyond her closed eyelids, curiosity forcing her to open them to witness a beautiful sight of violet wings of light emerging from the back of the older women neck. The wings opened wide, illuminating the entire alleyway with a calming violet light. As the wings faded away and Eliza got enough control of her brain back to pull away and put some distance between the two of them, her mind still could only come up with one question, "What the hell was that?" However she did not voice the query having yet to regain control of her lips.

"Knowledge of my pledge, unlock the secrets of the universe before my ashikabi." The grey haired women recited, a smile gracing her lips taking away part of her stern exterior. "Your sekirei, No. 22 Kochou, now and forever."

Finally Eliza managed to form a slightly coherent thought but could only ask with a puzzled expression. "Wait what?"

* * *

**Authors note: Thank you all for reading and for all the support, I've been meaning to write a sekirei fanfic for ages and chose to write this story idea first and I'm definitely happy I decided to write/post it. I will hopefully be posting fairly regularly, most likely aiming for Saturdays/Sundays though since exams are closing in. I appreciate all the feedback and I shall continue writing. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

"Your sekirei, No.22 Kochou." The grey haired women repeated, still smiling as she looked into the red heads eyes, which were still slightly wide after the unusual light she had just seen during their kiss.

"My.." Eliza hesitated, unsure of what she was asking but wanting to know what it meant or if she had really heard the word correctly, "...sekirei?" She finished, the word sounded strange on her lips but registered as something familiar in her mind and not in a good way. Had she heard this word somewhere before? Read it somewhere in a magazine or online perhaps?

"Yes my ashikabi." Kochou, as she had introduced herself as, confirmed bringing Eliza back to the conversation at hand and another word that she was unclear of its meaning.

This was the second time this women had referred to her at such and Eliza was not particularly fond of being out of the loop. Was it some new slang that the red head was unaware of? Was she that disconnected with Japanese terminology? However before she could begin another set of questions, hopefully more articulate than her previous ones, her phone began buzzing in her pocket.

"Oh no, not now." She internally dreaded as the phone continued to ring, seemingly very persistent which wasn't surprising knowing what the caller wanted. She had hardly had any time to get started let alone finish retrieving the data, they couldn't seriously expect her to be finished already, could they?

"Are you going to answer that?" The other women asked, reminding Eliza about the current situation she was in, said situation having lapsed in her memory as she fretted over the ominous phone call. "I won't mind," She stated as she moved closer into the younger women's personal space, "I can be patient ashikabi."

Eliza's gulped slightly at that, the undertone of the last statement sounding far from innocent but chose to address whatever that suggestion was after she dealt with the second phone call of the day. Fishing out the still ringing device, Eliza sighed at the unknown number flashing on her screen requesting a face to face call. As she went to answer it her mind caught up with what she just read.

"Since when have they ever let me see what they look like? They don't even talk to me using their normal voices." The teen thought as she looked down at her phone. Realising however that she had probably taken far too long to answer the call as it was, she decided she might as well go ahead and accept the call, both curious and slightly worried about what she was going to see.

"FINALLY!" The booming voice yelled from the small device, making Eliza flinch slightly. "Do you know how long I've been waiting?" The male voice asked as Eliza looked down towards the screen, preparing to apologise for the delay yet when her eyes finally came to look at the yelling man, she froze. The little colour in her skin drained from her face as recognition set in, this wasn't the phone call she had expected, it was far worse.

The man calling her was none other that the chairman and founder of MBI, Minaka, looking like a crazy scientist in an all white suit and lab coat with spiky white hair. Eliza couldn't believe the director of MBI was calling her or why? If he had her number couldn't he just track her, why give her a heads up that they knew how to find her?

"Well it doesn't matter now." Minaka half muttered before continuing in an oddly cheerful voice. "All that matters is the great opportunity you have been given, a chance to ascend in the age of the gods!" He announced extravagantly and extremely loud making Eliza hold the phone further away from herself due to the noise. "You have the privilege of taking part in the Sekirei Plan, the name magnificent game you have just entered."

"Game?" Eliza asked before Minaka could continue on with his speech. She was feeling thoroughly confused and now apparently she was part of a game which she assumed had something to do with the women who had just introduced herself as Eliza's sekirei.

"Huh?" The white haired man was stumped for a moment, seeming to not have expected interruption and maybe it would have been better if she hadn't spoken because now his focus was on her and she noticed the recognition flash across his eyes. "Well isn't this an unexpected surprise?" He asked her rhetorically, his grin ever growing. "Why if it isn't the trouble maker that escaped your office, Takami?" He asked to someone off screen, laughing slightly.

"And your security systems." Was the blunt response from a begrudged female Eliza was unable to see but apparently was the one who terrified her guards and was meant to have dealt with the red head the previous day.

"Ha ha..." The chairman seemed to be nervous under the scrutiny of Takami and decided to move on and not focus on his technological failure. "Well none of that is of any concern now that she is part of the game, it has all worked out rather well if I do say so myself." The cheery attitude was back and Eliza was attempting to keep up with the mood swings.

"Only you would say it." Takami responded sounding annoyed at how easily the whole issue with the teenager who had escaped their custody was being overlooked.

Ignoring her, Minaka continued undeterred, "It seems the introduction is unnecessary as I'm sure you are well aware of who I am. Now you, Eliza Quinn, are that beautiful sekirei's ashikabi and have become part of the Sekirei plan, where sekirei will fight in order to be able to ascend with their ashikabi!" He announced the last bit dramatically earning a snort from Takami as he waved his arms in a grand gesture.

"What do you mean fight?" Eliza asked thinking she needed to enter this conversation and get some answers before he went on another rant about gods.

"They shall fight until the strongest is left and..."

"But what if they don't want to fight?" The teen was not liking the sound of this, not in the slightly as while she wasn't opposed to violence she preferred to avoid it when she could and charging into a battle of sekirei, whatever they were as she was pretty sure they weren't human, at least not completely, was something Eliza was not comfortable with.

"They must fight for those are the rules of the game and as the 'Game Master' I have means of enforcing the rules. And speaking of rules this is a secret project and if you break confidentiality we will be forced to revisit our previous disagreement."

Eliza felt a shiver run down her spine at the threat, it seemed Minaka had not completely forgotten about her actions towards MBI and would more than likely be happy to deal with her severely.

"So congratulations Kochou on finding your ashikabi and best of luck in the game." And with that parting message Minaka hung up on Eliza.

Slumping against the wall that was still against her back, the red head let out a defeated sigh as she slipped the phone back into her pocket. This day was getting stranger and more life threatening by every phone call she got, maybe she should just throw the damn thing away.

"Are you okay ashikabi?" Kochou asked in a concerned voice as she observed the teen before her.

"I just got a personal phone call by the leader of the people I'm trying to avoid and now I am part of some fight to the death or something." Eliza responded as she looked at the older women, "I need a minute.. or two." She added as she tried to calm her breathing and not to panic as the gravity of the situation hit her.

"My apologises ashikabi," The older women began, casting her eyes downwards, her voice barely keeping its serious tone as she tried to keep the guilt she felt about ruining her ashikabi's life show in her expression.

Noticing the change in demeanour and feeling a stab of guilt start to eat away at her for reasons she wasn't sure of. It was not as if she was to one who had dragged someone into a crazy battle by kissing a stranger. However the red head knew she couldn't even argue with her conscience at this moment, couldn't just stand there why someone was in pain.

"Hey don't worry about it," Eliza said as she took a step forward, placing a comforting hand on Kochou's left shoulder and trying to get the grey haired women to look up at her. "My life was hardly easy or really that safe before I met you and that was my doing." The red head informed her as she reached her other hand, taking Kochou's chin gently with the tips of her fingers, Eliza tilted her head so they were looking into each others eyes. "If anything this has got MBI off my back for the time being." She smiled warmly trying to put the other women at ease, who smiled slightly, grateful for the red heads words.

Realising she was extremely close to this women she had just met, Eliza took a step back feeling mildly self conscious as her eyes darted to the alley way that the pair still occupied. "Maybe we should head out of here, we probably look kind of shady." She joked trying to lighten the mood somewhat.

"Perhaps we should." Kochou agreed, "Should we return to the library where you were working?" She question as she turned towards the exit Eliza had ran through on her attempt at an escape plan, her back half facing the red head and that's when Eliza noticed the red symbol on the back of Kochou's neck.

"What is that?" Eliza asked a puzzled looking sekirei as she turned back to face the teenager.

"What is what?" The grey haired women questioned as Eliza moved closer to her in order to get a better look.

"That mark on the back of your neck." Eliza knew this was probably quite rude of her, to demand things of the older women but if what she saw was right then either her life was about to get even more complicated or an issue was about to get solved.

"Oh, that is the mark of a sekirei. It appears on the back of a sekirei's neck when we are winged by our ashikabi's." Kochou informed her, seeming not to be insulted or offended by the way Eliza had questioned her but rather happy to answer.

"The wings of light." Eliza concluded as the cause, to which her sekirei nodded in response. "May I take a look?" She asked hoping that wasn't too invasive.

"Of course ashikabi." Kochou turned around pulling what little hair covered the mark, out of the way. The symbol was exactly the same as Akitsu's but apparently her was in the wrong place according to Kochou.

It seemed Kochou wasn't the first sekirei Eliza had met and if Akitsu was part of this battle that could explain the blood that wasn't hers. Had she got into a fight and then been abandoned by her ashikabi? If so why would her mark be on her forehead?

"Well you're not going to figure it out here." Eliza thought to herself. She had to go and ask Akitsu and if the other women was aware of sekirei then explaining Kochou shouldn't be that hard, hopefully.

"We should head back to my place." The red head said out loud, coming to a decision. "There's something I've got to do."

Kochou nodded, "As you wish ashikabi, which direction?"

"I'll lead the way." Eliza told her as she started to head out of the alleyway, Kochou by her side. "Maybe you can explain this whole sekirei plan to me on the way."

"It would be my pleasure ashikabi." Kochou said, smiling at the red head before adjusting her glasses and taking on the professional aurora she had previously held, all which gave Eliza the impression she was in for a long lesson.

* * *

**Authors note: Thanks for all the support, especially about my OC as its quite nerve racking to put an original character into an already established fandom and as for her being female, I felt that there was hardly any canon or even OC female ashikabis so I thought I'd contribute :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Didn't managed to finish the chapter over the weekend due to revision for my exam today, but here it is, enjoy. :)**

* * *

"Right, so let me check I understood all that." Eliza started as she and Kochou continued walking down the road in the direction of home, looking slightly skyward in the hope it would help her remember everything she had just been told. "So I'm what they call an ashikabi which is a human with a unique gene that causes sekirei to emerge through saliv... well basically kissing. That then binds the sekirei to said human and that bond is unbreakable. Right so far?" The teenager questions, glancing side ways at the older women for confirmation, who responds with a nod.

"Okay," Eliza pauses for a moment, trying to keep hold of her train of thought, the one involving the unbreakable part. "That unfortunately means as this is permanent if you are forcibly winged you're stuck with the arse who kissed you and can't find your destined one." The red heads shoulders slumped at the end off that realisation, "That is beyond cruelty."

Kochou looked at her crest fallen ashikabi who seemed to care about sekirei she did not even know and she could barely contain her smile at her choice of ashikabi. Her heart had chosen well and Kochou could only hope that she could protect her ashikabi, though in any real fight, the sekirei didn't like her odds.

"It's horrible to think those sekirei then have to fight for an ashikabi they don't even love." Eliza continued, bringing Kochou back to the conversation at hand and put admiring her partner off until later. First she had to be completely honest with Eliza.

"Ashikabi, I must confess something." The grey haired women said, lowering her head to look down towards her feet, feeling ashamed about her inabilities to serve her destined one.

"What is it?" The red head asked, concern lacing her voice having noticed the strict postured women's sudden demeanour change.

"As I explained, I am an information sekirei, which means I am able to access any electronic device telepathically however that does leave my combat skills extremely lacking." Stopping in her tracks to look Eliza in the eye she stated, "If another sekirei attacks us I cannot defend you, I cannot protect you." Her composure seemed to be failing her, unable to keep herself collected in the face of failing her ashikabi.

Halting on her journey when she noticed Kochou had stopped, Eliza quickly caught on to her sekirei's distress and stepped into her personal space. Resting her hands on the other women's arms in a hope to comfort her, Eliza easily responded. "Then I'll try to avoid getting attacked or I just won't put you into a fight." Smiling she continued, "Not that I have any plans of putting you in harms way to begin with."

Kochou blushed slightly at those words, glad that Eliza did not think her abilities were lacking though she couldn't be sure if that would change in the future when the real game began. However the sekirei decided to worry about that later and just enjoy the time she had with her ashikabi while she could.

As they went back to walking to Eliza's apartment, the red head continued trying to wrap her mind around the Sekirei Plan. "So the sekirei symbol appears on a winged sekirei's neck but disappears when they're terminated. Are you sure the symbol is only ever appears on their neck?" She asked sounding quite serious as she focused on what the answer to this question could mean.

"From what I know of sekirei genetics, that is the only position winged sekirei's symbol can be. Why do you ask? That's a pretty specific inquiry." Kochou asked, curious as to what had prompted this peculiar question.

The red head hesitated for a moment, not sure if she was ready to voice her theories aloud. From what she had gathered, Eliza was sure her current house guest was indeed a sekirei though there was something different about her that she couldn't explain. Akitsu just felt different somehow and not just for a sekirei, unless all sekirei felt different, yet the fact that Eliza had felt something while in her presence was a strange concept to the teenager. She couldn't explain it but it was something she now felt more strongly while in Kochou's company, a pull of sorts which seemed to be destroying Eliza's concept of personal space.

"I don't think you're the first sekirei I've met." Eliza revealed after a moment of silence before looking to the older women for her response.

"Why quite unlikely with the amount of sekirei having already been realised into the city, it is not impossible that you have already met one. Also the more sekirei you wing, the stronger you become as an ashikabi and the more sekirei will be drawn to you." Kochou stated matter of factly as if the idea of Eliza winging more sekirei had no effect on her.

"Wait, so an ashikabi can wing more that one sekirei?" A nod. "And sekirei are okay with that?" She asked carefully, trying not to offend her newly bonded sekirei.

"The more sekirei an ashikabi has, the stronger they are and the more likely they will win the sekirei plan." The grey haired sekirei responded, shrugging.

Stopping once again and turning Kochou around to look at her. "That doesn't really answer my question now does it?" The teen tilted her head to look the other women in the eyes, smiling gently.

"While some sekirei I am more strongly opposed to it than others, I understand that to have a chance at winging we will need a sekirei who can fight. As long as I have my ashikabi in my life, I am willing to share." Kochou smiled back to her ashikabi, happy that her ashikabi was trying to be considerate of her feelings but knowing a combat sekirei would be required to survive this game. "Do you intend to wing the sekirei you mentioned before?"

Turning towards her apartment building, which was now only a few minutes away, Eliza spoke while her mind went back to the many questions that were vying for her attention. "I'm not sure if I can." Knowing she would not get her answers here, Eliza decided it was time to find out more about the soft spoken women in her apartment. "Come on, there's someone I want you to meet." The red head took the other women's hand, pulling her towards the apartment's front door.

Slightly puzzled by her ashikabi's sudden need to get home or who she wanted her to meet, Kochou just followed Eliza, her lips curing upwards at the sight of their linked fingers.

* * *

Having let go of Kochou's hand in order to open the door, Eliza was standing holding her keys in the entrance to apartment when a body collided into her, nearly knocking her off her feet. Barely catching herself, the teenager looked down to see Akitsu clutching her, the other women's arms wrapped around her torso. A smile spread across her lips at the sight of the beautiful women wearing what looked to be her favourite hoodie while pressed against her chest. Something about the image felt right to Eliza, like she was hers.

Furrowing her brows at that though, maybe this ashikabi thing was going to her head. "You wing one sekirei and suddenly you think you're a lady killer." Eliza thought mentally shaking her head as she slowly extracted Akitsu from her chest.

"What brought on this greeting?" The red head asked, her smiling returning to her lips at the sight of Akitsu looking up at her through her light brunette fringe.

"I thought you weren't coming back." Akitsu mumbled but it was loud enough for Eliza to catch it.

The teen was tempted to point out that this was her apartment why wouldn't she have came back but then she remembered the morning's thought process about planning to abandon this place and run as far away as she could. She decided the say instead, "Ah yeah I did say I wouldn't be too long, I guess time got away from me. Sorry if I worried you." Smiling again in hope to cheer up the women still partly clutching to her and ruffled her hair affectionately.

It seemed to be enough as, though quite reluctantly, Akitsu withdrew herself and took a step back, allowing Eliza to fully enter the apartment and unblocking the view of the women behind her. The two sekirei's eyes locked and the room's temperature dropped suddenly, making everyone excluding Akitsu shiver.

Gulping, Kochou questioned, "I-is this who you wanted me to meet, ashikabi?" The well collected sekirei seemed suddenly nervous, all but confirming Eliza's suspicion of what Akitsu was and enhancing the dangerous aurora that surrounded the brunette, an aurora first introduced with the unknown blood on her clothes.

The sudden tension in the room seemed to dissolve as quickly as it had materialised at the end of Kochou's question. Akitsu taking another step back, creating more distance between herself and the other sekirei's ashikabi. "You're her...?" The quiet voice seemed unable to finish as the brunette looked on with a pained look in her eyes overlaying her face's neutral expression.

"Er..." Eliza started, glancing between the two women. "Yes. To both questions." The red head was unsure of where to go from here, not having thought through how she would have approached this situation nor how the two sekirei would react to each other. Then again considering they were in a fight to the death, Eliza couldn't believe how stupid she was to put two of them in a room together. If this went south, her apartment would be destroyed and she didn't want to think about the condition she or the sekirei would be in after the fight.

Nodding slightly as if accepting a terrible fate Akitsu stated, "You found yourself a worthy sekirei."

"So you are a sekirei?" Eliza asked, deciding to deal with one thing at a time and thought it best to confirm what she was first. Another slight nod and now Akitsu wasn't meeting her eyes, rather staring quite blankly at Kochou who still seemed reluctant to make any sudden movements. "Are you winged then? You bare the sekirei symbol." Eliza felt the need to clarify at the end.

However before Akitsu could respond with even a head gesture, Kochou seemed to regain some of her personalty and decided to live up to the information sekirei reputation. "She's a scrapped number."

Swivelling her head back to her sekirei, the red head questioned, "A what? And I thought you said you didn't know of any sekirei with a symbol like that." Oddly the teenager felt a slight stab of betrayal at having been lied to, even though she had only just met this women and it wasn't as if Eliza had told her everything about her own personal life.

"You asked if I knew of any winged sekirei with such a symbol, a scrapped number has not and cannot be winged. They are not even meant to be part of the game." Kochou informed her as if merely reading a fact from a text book.

Eliza didn't have to look at Akitsu, she could almost feel pain from the other women, a feeling which was accompanied by deja vu. This seemed to be reverting Akitsu back to when they had first met and the teen did not want that to happen, to see her in such agony again. Facing the brunette again, she asked, "Is that true Akitsu? Can you not be winged."

"I am broken. What use is a sekirei to an ashikabi who can't be winged." The utter defeated tone of her voice even breaking through Kochou's cool exterior.

"Is that what MBI told you?" Eliza asked, feeling anger raising in her chest at what this sick game was doing to this magnificent women and she couldn't understand why.

"My tuner, who failed my adjustments, told me so when he tried to destroy the evidence of his failures." The brunette answered with a resigned detachment.

"He.." The young ashikabi couldn't even say what she assumed he had tried to do, tried to hurt, even kill, Akitsu. "That was his blood before, wasn't it?"

"Some of it." Akitsu answered still not looking Eliza in the eyes fully and now feeling that she disgusted the teenager, having harmed another human being. "I had to fight my way out." She added in a way of explaining the rest of the blood and maybe it would get the red head to understand the reason for the blood.

Kochou however, though shocked and horrified by the other sekirei's tuner, was confused about the way the current conversation had gone.

"Yeah that place has lots of guards with guns." Eliza half muttered offhandedly before quickly moving on. "But you were stronger. Stronger that they thought or believed you were, proving them wrong. That proves you're more than what they labelled you as." She said with conviction, not sure where all of it was coming from but feeling it was true. "You're a beautiful, brilliant sekirei who deserves to have an ashikabi who appreciated you." Eliza finished, looking Akitsu dead in the eye in an attempt to convey the sincerity of her words.

A spark of hope flickered in Akitsu's and she wished to whatever gods the professor always talked about that those words meant what she thought they did. "Does that mean," Akitsu started quietly, "that you... that I can be your sekirei?" If the room hadn't been completely silent, Eliza might not have heard the question.

Glancing towards Kochou, still unsure about the whole protocol with having more than one sekirei, even if Akitsu could not be winged, she responded with a nod. Moving towards Akitsu so they were an arms width apart before responding with a smile, "If that's what you want. If you want me to be, it would be my honour to be your ashikabi."

A smile began to form on the brunette sekirei's lips and a slight blush coloured her cheeks as she nodded, unable to find the right words to express how much she wanted to be accepted, chosen, to be Eliza's sekirei.

"Well, let's make this official then." The young ashikabi said and before either sekirei could speak their confusion, Eliza stepped into Akitsu's personal space. She reached her right hand to gently cup the brunette's cheek, her left hand reaching for her waist to draw their bodies together as she brought their lip together. Closing her eyes, knowing no light would be produced this time, both women relaxed into the kiss, leaning into each other and becoming ashikabi and sekirei.

Breaking away from the kiss for air, a somewhat breathless sekirei recited, "The ice of my pledge, shatter the misfortunes of my ashikabi. No.7 Akitsu, your sekirei now and forever."

"My sekirei," Eliza echoed smiling before taking a step back realising her other sekirei was also in the room. "How about we go shopping, while I'm not complaining about your attire, well you wearing my attire," Eliza rambled slightly nervous with the realisation she had just kissed two women in one day and now was bonded to them both. "Anyway what I was trying to say was you might want your own clothes that fit properly. That and I have like no food in my cupboards, might need to deal with that with 3 people living here now. What do you two think?"

Akitsu nodded, still blushing slightly while and Kochou corrected her glassed before also confirming her agreement.

"Okay, Akitsu why don't you grab a pair of my jeans to replace those shorts and we'll head out." Eliza suggested, the sekirei again silently agreeing as she headed to the red head's bedroom.

Turning to look at her remaining sekirei, Eliza realised she had completely forgotten about the corrupted data she had originally left the apartment to fix. Her computer was still broken but for some reason she couldn't care less. MBI was off her back, at least for the moment so one problem was down. Instead she was in a free for all battle to the death to be the last pair standing but she thought maybe some food and clothed were in order. Eliza would tackle the whole computer issue later or when it came back to haunt her, hopefully before that though. Now though she was going to spend time with her sekirei, that word was something she would have to get used to, it still sounded strange even after what she had seen so far.

* * *

**Another AN: As for the lack of female ashikabis, I plan to rectify that one story at a time. Also for the suggestion of a beta reader, I have found a lovely person to proof read my story however since I thought it best to correct all my chapters for any new readers and because if you're going to do something, you might as well do it properly. This does mean my latest chapters will not be any more grammatically correct that my previous ones, though I try, until my beta reader has the time to catch up. However I want to keep updating so please bear with me and hopefully once my already posted chapters are improved for better reading, my new chapters will also be checked by my beta reader.**

**Anyway sorry for the long message, just wanted to let my readers know what is going on and that I appreciate those who have taken the time to write reviews, I do take suggestions/constructive criticisms to mind and it's nice to know people are interested in my story :)**


	7. Chapter 7

Silently standing in the living room area, waiting for Eliza's latest sekirei to change into some jeans so they could head out, lead to both of the remaining women to jump in surprise when an unexpected knock sounded at the door. Kochou gave a curious glance to her ashikabi while Eliza responded with a more confused expression, unsure of why anyone would be at her front door. Moving cautiously over to the front door, the grey haired women stepping out of the way, Eliza attempted to think of anyone who had her address and felt the need to visit.

The rapping on the door increased in volume as the visitor obviously became impatient, rolling her eyes at the person on the other side of the door and thinking she might as well find out who was so insistent on seeing her. The red head let out an irritated, "Alright, alright. I'm coming." as she reached for the door knob.

Pulling it open, revealed an impeccable dressed Japanese man in a black suit and tie, with short black hair and a tight lipped expression. Despite only a glance at the man, the teenager instantly knew the company he worked for. However before she could react or question why MBI had suddenly turned up at her doorstep, a box was shoved into her chest causing Eliza to reflexively catch it before it dropped onto her feet.

"Er..." Eliza brilliantly managed to question as she glanced down at the package that was forced into her hands. Luckily for the young women, Kochou chose to assist her by answering her unasked question.

"My equipment." She informed, moving closer to examine the content of the box Eliza was still holding. "The professor must have arranged to send my belongings over after he called us."

"Oh right, of course." The red head responded, noticing the clothes inside the box and wondering how she thought that her sekirei didn't have any of her own possessions considering she must have had some things of her own to live off before she met her ashikabi.

Moving away from the man in the suit, Eliza headed over dining table to put down the box as she noticed a couple are big men follow her in, their muscles straining against their suits as they carried Kochou's equipment over the the table.

"It looks like we won't be need to do that much clothes shopping after all, unless you need some nightwear or something Kochou." Eliza said, noticing all the boxes were labelled No.22 which meant Akitsu still needed clothes but also made the red head curious, and admitted slightly annoyed, that nothing had been sent over for Akitsu. Does being a scrapped number mean they had thrown away her belongings? Was being unable to be part of this sick game meant they had just abandoned her to fend for herself? Or perhaps they were unaware of her location. They had first called Eliza after she had winged Kochou, meaning they knew exactly when a sekirei was winged and therefore she could assume with Akitsu being unable to be winged, they may not be able to track her in the same way. They might not even realise she now had an ashikabi.

Feeling that this information could later prove useful at a later point, Eliza decide to file it away in her mind as she quickly ushered the men out of her apartment, thankful that they did not seem keen on helping her unpack the boxes. Closing the door, the red head turned back to see Kochou lifting one of the lighter boxes from the table.

"Where should I put these?" The grey haired women asked, indicating to all the boxes littering the dining table.

"Well the first door is my room and the second is the spare room so," Eliza began explaining the layout of the apartment but before she could finish with her answer Kochou had already made it to her bedroom and was entering it. "And it looks like it's going in my room then." The teenager said to herself having been left in the room alone.

Shrugging, she headed back to the dining table to help unpack and attempted to pick up one of the boxes. Failing to do so and understanding the early strain she had seen on the moving men, Eliza looked into the box to see various computer part, explaining the weight. The equipment also seemed custom made and some of it seemed far more advanced than the latest models currently out. "She wasn't kidding about the whole electrical device thing being part of her sekirei ability." Eliza thought to herself and as she did not want to break any of the content, she decided to move on to a smaller, lighter box.

Beside her, Akitsu silently joined in unpacking, having managed to find jeans in her size and now was lifting the larger and heavier boxes with ease. "Damn she's strong." Eliza internally praised, impressed at the minimum effort the older women was exerting before she went back to helping.

* * *

After all of Kochou's belongings had been unpacked, the speed and efficiency of which Eliza wasn't embarrassed to admit was thanks to Akitsu's strength along with Kochou's guidance on how to set up her web of computers, the size of which left Eliza's bedroom's floor space quite lacking, all meant the three of them had finally left the apartment to shop. They were currently browsing a lingerie store, due to the insistence of Kochou and the fact that Eliza was obviously aware of the necessity of underwear and such, as the first stop on what the teenager assumed would be a long trip.

Eliza herself was situated alone on a bench outside of the changing rooms while the two sekirei were trying on the lingerie that had selected from the store and having also sent the extremely enthusiastic retailer away, politely stating she could handle things from here. The retailer had taken a particular liking to the pair of sekirei, suggesting many nose bleed worthy sets of undergarments for both of them, none of which seemed at all practical or even suitable to be considered more than scraps of fabric. While Eliza didn't deny she could see the appeal, it was rather the fact she liked to feel comfortable over worrying that going up the stairs too fast would lead to a mishap.

"Ashikabi?"

The red head was pulled out of her internal thought process to look up at the brunette women, her understanding of the appeal increasing as her eyes landed on Akitsu wearing a quite revealing red bra and thong, the former seeming to having been made to do a proper job. Blushing slightly and averting her gaze as not to stare, Eliza internally stated, "And here I thought bras were meant to support. And I'm pretty sure Akitsu's breast need far more support than that!"

"Ashikabi do you like it?" Akitsu asked, sounding nervous that the red head was not pleased with what she was wearing.

"I think the more important question is do you like it." Eliza said bringing her eyes up to meet Akitsu's. "I mean, it doesn't look very comfortable." She continued her eyes flickering momentarily to the other women's breast before quickly returning back to her face to gage her response. "Honestly Akitsu, are you comfortable?"

The older women shook her head before mumbling, "The women said it would please my partner."

That response didn't particularly surprise Eliza but made her slightly worried and curious about what Kochou had picked out, that women not seeming to decide whether she was going to be nun like or succubus like. Smiling softy at Akitsu, touched that she was willing to suffer wearing that lingerie, she told her, "I'm happy in whatever you wear, believe me, but you being uncomfortable in it is kind of counter productive. So how about you ignore whatever that retailer said or suggested and pick something you like, okay?"

"Okay ashikabi." The teenager received a slight smile before the sekirei turned and went back into the changing room. She probably would have to talk to Akitsu about the excessive use of the word ashikabi, while she understood it was probably used so much due to the fact Akitsu thought she would never have an ashikabi, Eliza didn't particularly want to explain what the word meant to a stranger. MBI had warned her about letting the secret slip and the threat that went with it but also perhaps a more dangerous threat would be another ashikabi overhearing them.

Exiting the changing room again, Akitsu returned wearing a lacy light blue bra and matching underwear, the colour seemed compliment her complexion and Eliza couldn't help admire the beautiful woman before her. "I picked this one out, ashikabi." Akitsu cautiously informed, looking slightly nervous as she waited for the teenager to regain the ability to talk instead of just stare.

Forcing her eyes to meet Akitsu's, Eliza cleared her throat before managing, "Y-You look great Akitsu." Her cheeks reddened as she once again cast her gaze away from the sekirei, trying to not make the situation more awkward by staring. While she wasn't exactly sure how the brunette felt about this, the red head personally wasn't entirely sure of the protocol for picking out lingerie for a alien entity that had been bonded to you in an all out free for all. And as Eliza thought more about the current twist her life had taken the situation felt all the more surreal. "I think you know what you like so why don't you pick those ones and we'll get them." The teenager said, who had been averting her gaze and looking as if the curtain of an empty dressing room was of particular interest before turning back to the older women to see her response. Akitsu answered with a nod before returning to the changing room.

"Ashikabi, can you give me a hand please?" Kochou called from the changing room a few doors down form where Eliza was currently seated.

"Sure, I'll be right there." The red head called as she headed towards her other sekirei, pulling back the curtain to enter once she had travelled the short distance. In retrospect Eliza realised she should have probably asked if the other women was decent before hand as she spun around so her back was to the grey haired women who was currently mid way through changing. "Yes Kochou?"

"Could you help me with this bra, I seem to be having some trouble." She responded innocently but the teenager could hear the amusement in her voice.

"Er sure, could you turn around first?" Eliza heard a giggle from behind her at the request, most likely at the expense of the red heads discomfort. Now it wasn't as if she had not seen breast before, she was a women herself after all not to mention having changed in the company of other women at various point of her life, she had merely felt it rude to stare. Also considering she was bonded to this women it only made Eliza more nervous as the sekirei's blatant openness with her, reminding her that they would be joined for the rest of their lives and if that wasn't a scary commitment, Eliza didn't know what was.

"It's safe to look now my flustered ashikabi." Kochou teased the younger women who decided an eye roll that the sekirei couldn't see would be her only response as she turned back around.

Fiddling with the clasp and adjusting the straps of a black and dark purple bra until it was more comfortable, she asked when she was finished, "Better?"

Eliza suddenly found herself pressed up against the wall, proving that despite Kochou lack of strength in comparison to other sekirei she was still pretty strong. "Much better." The grey haired women whispered into the younger women's ear, causing her to visible shiver at the feeling of warm breath against her neck. "Do you plan to pick anything out for yourself ashikabi? I can help you choose some great lingerie that would look exquisite on you." Kochou almost purred.

"No thanks, I'm good." Eliza responded trying not to let her voice waver as she was acutely aware of the body pressed against her own. "This trip is for you girls," She began attempting to keep calm and untangle herself, "Also we're in a public place Kochou, this is hardly the time to be messing around."

Tilting her head to look into the hazel eyes of her ashikabi, the older women responded smoothly, "When is the right time? While I can be patient," She began her voice dropping back to a whisper. "Do not keep me waiting too long."

"Ashikabi?" Akitsu called, saving Eliza from having to figure out a response to her first sekirei or before Kochou got even more adventurous .

Finding herself no longer pressed against the wall, Kochou had stepped back, the air of professionalism returning while Eliza stepped out of the changing room and faced the brunette. Akitsu came over holding the items she had chosen however Eliza was too flushed to check what she had bought and was thinking maybe it was best if they got a move on, having spent a rather long time in the shop already. Before long Kochou exited the changing room and joined the pair and they headed over to the register to pay.

"Are you okay ashikabi?" Akitsu asked concern lacing her words but Eliza shrugged of her worries, informing her it was nothing to worry about while thinking to herself that she didn't have a clue how she was going handle both women living in her apartment, which was usually a solitary place and Eliza was used to living alone.

* * *

Later, once Eliza had bought Akitsu's now current outfit, which she had changed into after purchase, that consisted of kimono styled outfit design with black fabric outlining the large V cut that exposed a ample portion of the brunette's breasts, a black type sash tied with a bow around the waist and oddly enough chains looped around her neck, plunging into her breasts while managing to hold the whole attire together. Somehow Akitsu had spotted this piece of clothing in the back of the store, the same store they also bought two other dresses for the sekirei, while they had been walking past. Eliza had decided not to question the chain part of the outfit, having seen far weirder outfits before and as her sekirei seemed to like it, she had bought it for her.

The other two dresses, one an elegant light blue dress with short sleeves and a long flowing design with a slit up the right side for Akitsu, the other a strapless violet dress that was very form fitting and reached just below the knee for Kochou, were currently being carried by the grey haired sekirei.

The trio had finally got through all the clothes shopping and moved onto the pressing matter of food shopping, which Eliza should have guessed would be far more than her usual purchase. Apparently, according to Kochou, Sekirei needed far more sustenance than humans which again wasn't really surprising since they had to fight each other and that required lots of energy. It was therefore why there was a lot of food being stacked into the trolley. Luckily for them Akitsu knew how to cook, though while Kochou could probably research the topic and Eliza could whip up something to eat, the red head felt less like she would poison or be poisoned by her food if someone who knew what they were doing was in the kitchen.

Pulling out her purse, Eliza tried to see if she had enough money to buy the truckload of food after the already expensive clothes shopping. "Well there was the pressing issue of lack of funds that made you took that job." The teenager thought to herself as she tried to figure out how she was going to afford all this.

As if sensing her ashikabi's worries, Kochou pulled out a black and white card from somewhere within her outfit, suggesting that there were pockets in that dress after all. She handed it to the teenager who just looked at it with confusion before flipping it over and seeing 'MBI' printed on the card.

"I'm assuming it's a credit card." Eliza confirmed from her sekirei who nodded stating it's unlimited property.

"All sekirei are given one so that their ashikabi can provide for their needs without worrying about money in order for then to focus on the game." Kochou quoted, picking up some more food from the aisle.

"Wait, you're only telling me you have an unlimited credit card now, after all the shopping?" The red head turned to face the older women, raising her eyebrow in a 'seriously?' facal expression.

Kochou merely shrugged before smiling at her ashikabi and explaining, "I thought the clothes would feel more intimate if bought as a gift from my ashikabi."

"Ah of course," Eliza said, deciding to just go with it though when she went to return the card after buying all the food and now being weighed down even more so by shopping bags, Kochou refused to take it back.

"It's yours. You're our ashikabi, you're meant to have it." She told her with such confidence, Eliza just nodded in response, putting the card away and hoping she didn't drop it or lose it somehow.

* * *

Finally finished with their shopping trip, the three women headed back to their apartment, just as the light of day was starting to fade. They had been out for quite a while and would be grateful to get back. However out of nowhere a high whistling noise could be heard, making Eliza cringe at the sound. A flash of metal could be glimpsed in the corner of the teenager's left eye however before she could even turn her head towards the sound, an ice wall erupted around the trio, allowing Eliza to witness a fragmented view of metal clashing into the ice that was mere centimetres from her face.

"What the hell?"

* * *

**Author's note: Sorry about the later update, have been in exam mode and haven't found the time to write. As always thank you for all the support and reviews and I'll try to update soon.**


	8. Chapter 8

"Damn, you missed their ashikabi!" A male voice yelled in an irritated tone.

Hearing the unknown voice, allowed Eliza to remove her eyes from the embedded metal in the slightly cracked ice mere centimetres from her face. She cast her eyes around, unable to get a clear image of the owner of the voice through the ice wall that had protected her. Seemingly sensing her desire of clear sight, the wall retracted into the ground and the clatter of metal on concrete could be heard, which drew her eyes instantly.

Lying on the pavement was a red feathered arrow, pointing towards Eliza's feet as she stood in shock between her sekirei. "What the hell?" She only managed a whisper of her previous statement at the object that nearly lodged itself in her skull. Slowly the teenager lifted her head to look at her attacker, a young, tanned woman with long brunette hair, tied back using two braids that crowned her head. The woman stood glaring at Eliza wearing a sleeveless red top cut to her belly button, a short black skirt and thigh length black boots. However the most notable accessories the stranger had was the empty quiver strapped to her back and the bow she gripped in her left hand.

Behind her some feet away, stood a tall man with shaggy blond hair wearing a black leather jacket, white top and black trousers tucked into heavy black boots. Eliza assumed he was the voice she had originally heard and was confirmed when he continued. "Ughh fine. I guess we'll just deal with her sekirei first." He grunted as his face twisted into a sneer. "Shouldn't be too hard, with that kid as their boss. Just make it quick babe, don't want to waste too much of my time here."

His sekirei nodded towards him before she stepped forward and looked towards Akitsu. "I am sekirei no.29, Saya, I chal-"

"Wait," Eliza said finding her voice and raising her hand slightly in a halt gesture as the new sekirei looked on with a puzzled expression. "I get where the arrow came from but what was with the ice?" Eliza decided to focus on what had protected her rather than the life threatening part of the incident, in the hope of getting some sort of grip on the situation.

There was an moment of silence at the end of Eliza's question, the strangers unsure of what to do with the unexpected reaction from the teen while Kochou adjusted her glasses, examining Saya as she waited for her sister sekirei to answer their ashikabi.

"What do you-" The bow wielding sekirei began to ask.

"It was me ashikabi." Akitsu quiet voice spoke out in answer to Eliza, cutting through the enemy sekirei's sentence, "I am able to control ice."

Looking towards her sekirei with a look of awe at her power, Eliza praised, "Nice one." The red head grinned at the older woman who blushed slightly. "And you've definitely got great timing too. I really appreciate the whole not skewered by a weapon state of being."

"Hey, are we going to-"

"So ice power," The red headed mused out loud, "You think with the whole battle going on, I would have at least asked you about how you fight. Guess I just assumed it was a hand to hand combat thing."

"While there are fist type sekirei that deal with close- combat, there are many different weapon type and range sekirei." Kochou expertly informed, "For example this sekirei is a long ranged, weapon type."

"I'm standing right-"

"Hmm, I should probably learn more about that though control over ice is pretty cool." Eliza smiled before stopping and adding, "Excuse the bad pun."

"WILL YOU STOP INTERUPTING ME! I'M CHALLENGING YOU HERE!" Saya yelled at them, clearing frustrated at being ignored.

"How can she be annoyed at us, she attacked me." The teenager muttered to herself before continuing so her voice would carry to her attacker. "Hey look, how about we all calm down. Are you sure you want to do this?" She asked, trying to appeal to the other sekirei, or maybe even her ashikabi but she doubted she could get through to the jerk who called her a kid. "My sekirei easily stopped your surprise attack, it might be smarter just to leave us be." Eliza finished, not wanting to really get into a fight on the street while weighed down by shopping bags.

"I will not back down! I will not fail my ashikabi!" She announced fiercely. Reaching back with her right hand towards the empty quiver, which just confused Eliza. How did this woman expect to fight them with no ammo? And why did she only have one arrow?

However her questions were made null when another red feathered arrow materialised between her fingers, something that really shouldn't have surprised Eliza considering Akitsu's and what she had been told about Kochou's abilities.

With practised ease of someone skilled with a bow, Saya brought the arrow down to the lowered bow still in her left hand, nocking the arrow in the bowstring. She then lifted the weapon, drawing her right hand towards her cheek with the bowstring and released, all in a swift motion that was a slight blur to the human eyes trying to follow the action.

Eliza only heard the whistling noise and from the corner of her eye, saw Akitsu make a slight hand gesture before ice formed as a shield in front of her. Three arrows contacted with the ice in quick succession, arrows the teenager had not even seen the other sekirei draw let alone fire.

Stepping forwards, her face a mask of neutrality as she stood before her enemy, the ice sekirei introduced herself in a monotone voice. "I am Akitsu, no.7 and I shall be your opponent." Raising her right hand, icicles forming around her in the air, she stated, "You should not have attacked my ashikabi. Your actions were cowardly and are unforgivable." The floating icicles having multiplied until they obscured the brunette from sight while she spoke, deflected two more arrows that caused the icicles to shatter on impact.

As Eliza watched her sekirei manipulate an element, seeming completely unfazed by the opposing sekirei attacks she thought they might even stand a chance in this game, to win. All they had to do was defeat other sekirei and from the looks of things, Akitsu had that down and Kochou could just avoid fighting. The teen was starting to have hope her life would not continue on the downward spiral it had been travelling on and that she wouldn't lose the women she already felt extremely close to, despite the short time they had known each other.

Not taking her eyes of the fight, in fear that if she looked away the tables might turn and the hope of winning and surviving until the end would evaporate, she spoke to her non fighting sekirei. "Her being an ice sekirei definitely explains a few things. Like the room getting colder when you two first met, which I thought was me just being over sensitive to the tension in the room. Really just little things that just seemed odd at the time, not that things aren't odd in this city to begin with."

"Icicle Snow Storm." Akitsu's voice carried with the icicles that propelled themselves towards their target at an alarming rate.

Seeing the oncoming attack, Saya released two arrows at the closest threat before leaping to avoid the most damage however she could not avoid all of the attack. The ice ripped through the left side of her top, ripping it open and cutting flesh while the most damage was taken by her legs as she was unable to jump away fast enough.

"Akitsu doesn't seem to be having much trouble in this fight, not that I'm complaining." The ice sekirei's ashikabi quickly added to amend her original statement. "It seems kind of one sided."

"Well she is a single number, they have a higher power threshold to begin with and from what I know of her adjustments, Akitsu's power exceeded expectations during her tuning which caused a variation of winging effect to occur." The information sekirei explained to the younger woman but her calculating eyes never left the battle.

The tanned women had landed in a crouch with a grunt, before quickly reaching back to resume her attack now Akitsu's ice had shattered against the concrete. Pushing herself to a stronger stance before drawing three arrows at once and nocking them into the bowstring. "Feathered three!" She yelled as the metal arrow heads began to glow red before being fired. The glowing arrows flew through the air, merging together into one and combining its strength. It contacted with the materialised ice shield protecting the brunette before smashing it into pieces and causing Akitsu to be thrown back by the force of the exploding ice.

"What is with that quiver?" Eliza asked as more arrows were released at her sekirei who retreated, jumping back to avoid being hit and trying to form icicles to retaliate. "Is everything MBI makes unlimited, even their weapons?"

"There are only a dozen arrows in play ashikabi." Kochou adjusted her glasses, making them flash in the light as she indicated towards the battle which seemed to be taking a dangerous turn for Akitsu, who still however looked completely unaffected.

"How did you come to that conclusion?" The teen knew she probably should just take her at her word, considering she was definitely the brains of their trio, but she wanted to know how she had worked out the amount of arrows in the empty quiver.

"There are only ever a dozen arrows visible at one time, there are not as many laying around as there should be." Eliza dragged her eyes from the fight to glance around at the floor, her eyes coming to rest at her feet where there was no longer the arrow that had nearly shot her.

"The arrows return to the quiver after use but there seems to be a time delay before the first arrow she shot disappears and she is able to use it again."

"That mean if we get her to use all her arrows at once, she would basically be defenceless and unable to shoot us, which is a plus." Eliza concluded excitedly, having found a strategy to win with the help of her sekirei. "Akitsu, make her use her arrows quickly! Force her to shoot!" The red head called to her sekirei and hoped she would understand what she meant.

Nodding towards the teenager, the brunette increased her attack. Propelling icicles one after the other, giving the enemy the chance to destroy the projectiles without forcing her to retreat. After a short time of this tactic, Saya reached backwards and only grasped thin air.

Seeing the opportunity, Akitsu shot multiple icicles at her enemy, catching the sekirei in her left shoulder and forcing the bow in her hand to fly out of her grip and towards her ashikabi. Holding her right hand to her bleeding wound in order to apply pressure as the dark haired woman dived to the side, grazing along the concrete where she landed.

Akitsu had stopped her assault while she observed the motionless sekirei and Eliza could only stare at the blood that stained the floor, blood from the wounds her sekirei had caused. The tanned sekirei shifted as she pulled her feet under her and glared up at Akitsu, "I'm not finished yet."

"Babe this is embarrassing, come here and lets end this." Saya's ashikabi called over to her and Eliza could honestly say she had forgot he was there, he had been pretty silent throughout the fight.

"Ashikabi you can't let them reach each other and use their norito." Kochou hastily told her as the enemy sekirei pulled herself to her feet and limped towards her own ashikabi.

Eliza wasn't sure what a norito was but she assumed it wasn't good. "Akitsu, stop her!" She yelled, feeling the urgency of avoiding whatever was about to happen, her instincts telling her it would be dangerous to let the two strangers reach each other. Kochou wouldn't sound so concerned if it wasn't.

"Shall I terminate no.29?" Akitsu asked, raising her hand.

"Yes." The words left her lips in such a rush she didn't release what she had agreed to until Akitsu was already in motion. Terminating was how you win a sekirei fight, Kochou had told her that but this was a fight to a the last one standing. Terminate meant...

"AHHHHHH!" The pained cry drew Eliza's eyes to those of the enemy sekirei, unblinking as she stared with wide glazed over eyes at her own ashikabi, who stood motionless with a look of horror on his face. It took the teenager a moment to register to huge icicle that had emerged from the ground to impale the tanned sekirei, going straight through her chest and out her back. The once clear ice stained red as a choked gasp escaped the blood dripping lips of the dying sekirei.

Dying sekirei... Eliza felt sick as she looked at the bloody scene she had ordered to occur when she said yes to termination. The red head watched in horrified silence as the other ashikabi fell to his knees, a sob racking his body as he weakly reached for his sekirei's hand that hung limply and empty of her weapon.

"B-babe, no, no babe please..." His voice was a broken version of the sneer he had used to challenge them and it made Eliza want to sink to her own knees and empty the content of her stomach.

The sound of approaching helicopter could be distantly heard approaching the group, overlapping the painful sobbing that echoed in teenager's ears.

"Ashikabi, we had stayed long enough. MBI will take care of our fallen sister." Akitsu's voice could be heard from Eliza's right. "We can leave now."

Pulling her eyes from what Eliza could only see as a dying girl, if she was even still breathing, and a broken man. "Er," She began trying to get her voice back. "Yeah. Let's get home. We've got to put this food away." Turning her back to the horrid scene behind her, the red head picked up the shopping bags and headed back to her apartment, the image of the terminated sekirei burned in her mind.

How could this be called a game? How could anyone want to plan this, to create this horror in the disguise of a competition? As an ashikabi, Eliza decided if her sekirei killed another or was killed themselves if they let the enemy live. The death was on her head and she wasn't sure how she was going to cope with that, how she could even move forward from a realisation like that.

**Well I've finally finished all my exams but apparently when I decide to write my computer loses all my data. Thankfully it has all been recovered and the internet issue I faced on Sunday onto Monday is no longer a problem, so here's my latest chapter. Sorry it's a bit late but it's up now. Thanks for all the continuous support and I'm hoping to update for next week if I can.**


	9. Chapter 9

The walk back to the apartment was one of heavy silence. Eliza was lost deep in thought about the events that had lead to the teenager witnessing, even causing, a death of a young women, human or not. Her sekirei had taken the hint from their ashikabi, copying her lack of speech though Akitsu's usual quiet demeanour felt strained as the older woman was unable to comfort or console the red head. The grey haired woman also, despite her grand knowledge, was incapable of finding the right words to break the silence.

Once inside Eliza deposited the shopping bags she had been carrying on the dining table. She took a deep breath before turning to the ice sekirei. "Akitsu, would you mind making the dinner? I don't really want to give my sekirei food poisoning." The teen attempted to joke, giving the two other women a fake smile that didn't properly reach her eyes. Her heart was not really in it but she didn't want her sekirei to see how much this game was effecting her. A game they were created to be a part of and one that had only just begun.

"Of course ashikabi." The brunette's quiet voice replied, happy she could do something for her ashikabi even if it was a simple task. "What would you like?"

"Anything, I'm not too fussed." Eliza responded already walking towards her bedroom, "I think I might lay down for a minute."

The two sekirei shared a look as the younger women made it to the bedroom, closing the door behind her before they got to work unpacking the groceries. They could tell their ashikabi wished to be alone but it didn't stop them feeling useless in this situation.

Once inside her room, Eliza slumped against the door heaving out a sigh as she tried not to collapse before she reached the bed. Her body just felt heavy and she wanted to crawl under the covers and sleep until all this craziness was over. The teen doubted she could be that lucky.

Ignoring the vast computer set up that was taking up a large amount of space in her room, the red head walked over to the side of the bed and reached into her pockets to empty them. She threw her phone on the night stand, wishing she could throw the annoying device out the window, and pulled out her keys. Her thumb grazed along the ridges of her USB stick, drawing her attention to the small device and she held it between her thumb and forefinger. Another sigh escaped her lips as she gripped the tiny device that had been the start of these strange turn of events. The moment she had plugged it into MBI's systems she had set her life on this path, a very life threatening one at that.

Slowly swivelling on the heels of her feet until she was facing the mass of computers, the USB still in hand, Eliza thought about the reason why Minaka had seemingly let her go scot-free instead of sending his security to come and arrest her. According to Kochou by becoming part of the Sekirei Plan she was now trapped inside the city, a puppet for some mad man's sick idea of entertainment all of which was brought on by a sekirei choosing their destined partner to be with forever. What kind of twisted irony was that?

Taking a step towards the computers that took up a large proportion of Eliza's floor space, the teenager considered her two options, either of which would lead her to being someone else's pawn and put her life at serious risk. Her only real choice was what puppet master she wished to serve.

"Truthfully I'd rather have the one that pays." The red head muttered to herself while gripping the USB stick tighter in her hand.

She was fed up of MBI ruining her life and now they were just toying with her for their own amusement. There was a reason she took this job and now that Eliza was part of the game she wanted to complete it all the more.

Having come to a decision, the young women strides across the small space between her and the advanced technology currently held up in her room and goes to sit down. Suddenly remembering what happened to her laptop and the fact that the computers were Kochou's customised equipment, she thought her information sekirei would have better luck.

"Kochou, could you come in here a minute?" The teenager calls out loudly though with how silent her apartment it was probably unnecessary.

The door was soon pushed open and quickly closed behind the older grey haired women, who leant against the now closed wooden door. "Yes ashikabi? Is there something you wanted?" She asked seductively.

"Oh damn, I forgot what being alone with Kochou was like." The ashikabi's internal monologue responded. Feeling a blush at the sekirei's tone start to rise in her cheeks and a slight smile pull at her lips. "Looks like she's back to her flirty self, most likely trying to cheer me up." Her thought process continued as she locked eyes with her sekirei. Appreciating the older women's efforts but not wanting to get distracted, Eliza quickly brought the topic back to the matter at hand.

"Yeah, er, I need your help with something computery." The teenager got out before quickly breaking eye contact and turning to the blank computer screens. Had she really just said 'computery'? Why was it that she always had a hard time thinking straight when a women, more so when it was her sekirei, started speaking like that?

"What do you need?" Kochou asked, her tone of voice indicating her return to her professional demeanour, pulling the red head from her thoughts and making her wonder how she was going to keep up with the quick switch in the older women's personality that kept happening.

Raising the hand with the USB stick held between her fingers to draw her sekirei's attention, Eliza explained. "This data has been corrupted by some protection programme, I need you to recover the information that's on it for me."

"Of course ashikabi." She stated, stepping forward to take the device and sitting in front of her computers, turning them on. It amazed Eliza how she didn't even question her about the data or where she got it from.

"Oh be careful it seems to have a virus that likes destroying everything on your hard drive." The red head quickly added before Kochou inserted the device. Nodding her head in understanding, the older women began working, typing faster than Eliza thought was possible. "How long do you think it will it take?" The teen asked in awe at her sekirei's talent.

"While there seems to be a large mass of data it should not take me that long, 5 to 10 minutes at most." She coolly replied.

"Wow that's fast." The red head muttered, hoping not to disturb the other women and patiently waited to finally see the data she has been trying to recover.

* * *

After about 20 minutes Kochou has finished recovering the corrupted data and had sat back and turned to her ashikabi. "My apologies, the recovery took longer than I expected. It was an extremely clever virus, I'm curious who created it." The grey haired women's eyes grew distance for a moment seeming to be trying to recall a memory or piece or information but quickly returned to the present.

"It doesn't matter now, you did it." Eliza brushed off the comment just glad to finally have the data, for more than one reason.

"Ashikabi may I ask why you have the entire S Plan, or more commonly known now as the Sekirei Plan, schematics on your USB stick?" Kochou asked as she scrolled through the file names within said S plan schematics.

"Kochou, I can trust you right?" The teen asked while internally thinking she probably should have asked this question before getting the other women to recover the data but she did need that information.

"Of course ashikabi." The sekirei responded without a moments hesitation.

Taking a deep breathe Eliza started to try and explain, "You know how when MBI called me after I winged you and they mentioned something about me escaping?" A nod was her response. "Well the reason I had to escape and how I have that data is because I stole it from MBI. It's sort of why we're not on the best of terms with each other, well one of the reason from my point of view anyway. You see-"

A knock sounded at the bedroom door followed shortly by, "Ashikabi dinners ready."

"Okay we'll be right there." Turning back to her seated sekirei Eliza said, "I guess I'll explain later but for now you'll just have to trust me."

Nodding Kochou stood up and smiled, "Always my ashikabi." She kissed the red head's cheek before turning and exiting the room, leaving the teenager standing there smiling slightly as she stared after the door. Thinking about it she didn't know if she was ready to lay her plans out and history to anyone but if it had to be someone, she felt her sekirei would be the people to do it to. Somehow she did trust them already but that didn't mean she was completely willing to put faith in this sudden connection between them. So instead of worrying about having to explain everything to her sekirei, Eliza just walked out of her room and followed the delicious smell coming from her kitchen. It had been a good move to ask Akitsu to cook.

* * *

Halfway through eating the fantastic meal Akitsu had prepared, somehow managing what seemed to be a feast in about half an hour, Eliza suddenly stopped eating and looked up at both her sekirei. She had been deep in thought for most of the meal, unable to stop the cogs in her head from spinning and her sudden halt in consuming the food brought a saddened tint to the ice sekirei's eyes. "Do you two want to go out for lunch tomorrow? While Akitsu is an amazing cook I'd like to treat you both. I know a great place and since we have an unlimited MBI card I think we should make the most of it." She smiled at the end of her statement, if she was going to be part of this game she was going to make the most of its perks.

"Sounds lovely, ashikabi." Akitsu's quiet voice accepted the offer her eyes no longer holding any sadness but a glint of something brighter.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Her other sekirei asks, sounding nervous about the prospect of going on another outing so soon after being attack, unsurprisingly considering her lack of fighting ability and her ashikabi's close call.

"Yes." Sounding determined in her statement as she continued. "I'm not going to cower away in my apartment, too afraid to go outside in case we run into another ashikabi or sekirei. I'm not going to stop living my life because of this sick game. And anyway I'm confident in our abilities, well in my sekireis' abilities anyway. I'm just sort of a cheerleader in these situations but that's getting off topic, you up for it?"

"Yes, I would love to go on a date with my ashikabi." Kochou stated smiling at the younger women as the teen grinned back before they all returned to their food, all three minds wondering to the plans for tomorrow. Though not all of the women's feelings aligned when it came to what the future may hold for their little group.

* * *

**AN: I'm extremely sorry for the late update, it has just been really hectic for me since my last update. I started to write this chapter for the week I said I'd try and update but I just couldn't find the time to finish it. So my apologises for that and also for most likely the mistakes in this chapter. I'm going on a hiking/camping trip tomorrow for about a week and I wanted to update this before I left so I haven't had time for a proper read through (I might come back and correct my spelling/grammar as best I can when I return). Thanks for being so patient with me and still reading, I'll try to keep updating to a more regular timetable.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Well I have not written in ages and can't believe how much time has passed since I last updated this story, thank you to those readers still sticking around and welcome to anyone who has just found this story. My exams are nearly over so hopefully I will have time to write more and be motivated to do so. This chapter will probably contain grammatical and spelling errors and I will try and deal with most of them at a later date but I really wanted to get a chapter up as soon as possible, hopefully the next one won't be too far off. Anyway enjoy the chapter. :)**

* * *

Attempting to wipe the sleep out of her eyes, Eliza groaned as she stared into the blackness of her coffee. Gripping the mug between both her hands, in hope of not dropping the hot liquid in her drowsy state, the red head picked it up and headed to her sofa. She had been up for about an hour now, having washed and dressed in jeans and top, hardly concerned about what she was putting on at 6am. The teenager had been unable to have a peaceful night sleep, reasons for which somehow had nothing to do with the two oppressing weights that felt the need to almost lay atop their ashikabi. Eliza hadn't bothered arguing about the size of her bed, which was meant for two, as she couldn't exactly let one sekirei share her bed but not the other. That and neither seemed to have any inclination to use the spare room.

What little sleep she had managed was filled with abstract dreams that both scared and confused her, dreams she suspected were caused by the worry she was feeling about how her latest decision would affect her future or the guilt about ordering the death of a girl, though she couldn't be sure. The memory of the dream was already fading and Eliza wasn't particularly interested in retrieving the unsettling dream.

Sitting down on her sofa, Eliza looked towards her turned off old TV set but was unable to find the energy to look for the remote to turn it on. It would probably just wake up her new roommates anyway and the teenager didn't think she was ready yet to face the day. Taking a sip of her strong coffee while ignoring the burning of her taste buds, the red head took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she leant back.

_Ring. Ring._

"You've got to be kidding me." Eliza groaned as she reached into her pocket for her mobile, which she luckily remembered to pick up when she sneaked out of her bedroom. She didn't want either her sekirei to answer it. Cracking her eyes open to see the unknown number she was getting used to seeing though she wondered if it was her contact or MBI again. "I'm not sure which one I'm dreading more right now." She muttered to herself before she downed the burning hot coffee and answered the call. "Hello."

"Have you recovered the data?" The distorted voice got straight to the point and at the sound the teenager was both relieved about the caller and tense about the conversation to come.

"Well," Takes a deep breath, "I have begun decrypting the data but I could only start after dealing with the virus booby trap that came with the file. It will take time, the file you wanted is huge."

Silence answered, only interrupted by crackling that irritated the red heads ear drums and she waited with baited breath for the reply. The beginnings of Eliza's plans depended on the male's response and could be ruined by a single sentence. She hoped luck was on her side otherwise she had nothing to move forward with and would just be another player in this game with no way to effect it.

"Fine." The crisp response was given. "You have 72 hours then be ready for delivery." The line went dead as she was hung up on.

Bringing the phone away from her ear to return the annoying device to her pocket, the teen really hoped she had made the right choice though it was a bit late to back out now.

"Ashikabi?" Looking up to see her grey haired sekirei having just exited the bedroom. She was wearing one of her night shirts because despite her clothes having been delivered, Kochou insisted she needed to sleep in something that belonged to her ashikabi.

"Morning Kochou." Eliza greeted as she slid her mobile into her pocket. Ignoring her sekirei's questioning glance, the red head continued speaking in the hopes of distracting the other woman. "Is Akitsu up?"

Pausing briefly before answering the older woman smiled, "Yes, she's just getting up now." Walking over to where her ashikabi sat, Kochou lent in close to whisper in her ear. "I'm heading to the shower, care to join me?"

Eliza gulped in response to the request as her face began to heat up, thinking it was much too early for coping with her sekirei's suggestive comments and the images that came along with it but managed to get out a, "no thank you." Before continuing in a slightly clearer voice, "I've already had one plus we should probably all start getting ready. We have to get a train to the place I want to take you two."

Shrugging lightly as she pulled herself back to her full height, the older woman sent a mischievous smile towards the sitting teen before turning on her heels and heading in the direction of the bathroom but not before she threw a "the offer's always open" over her shoulder.

* * *

Soon both her sekirei had washed and dressed, Kochou in her usual purple outfit, something she seemed to have dozens of since those MBI goons dropped off her stuff, and Akitsu in her kimono type outfit she had taken a liking to and seemed to be held together by chains. Once they had all eaten a quick breakfast and it was nearly 10 o'clock, the trio decided to walk to the nearest train station which luckily was not too far away.

Both her sekirei flanking the young ashikabi as they strolled at a leisurely pace towards their destination only helped dissipate some of the tension in Eliza's body. For as soon as they had left the apartment her muscles coiled, ready to attempt to spring out of the way of any incoming dangers. Despite knowing how capable Akitsu was in combat, the extent of which the red head was attempting not to think too hard on due to the dark thoughts it would lead to, the threat of how close that arrow had come to killing her was still fresh in her mind. It was terrifying how close she had been to death and how easily her life could have ended if not for her sekirei's abilities. Eliza couldn't seem to shake the vulnerability she felt at being out in the open now, knowing at any moment a sekirei may choose to attack them. So if an effort to distract herself from potential immanent death, decided to break the relatively comfortable silence the group had fallen into.

"Sorry I woke you girls up so early, this place is pretty far away but the food is worth it and with MBI paying the bill we can pick whatever we want and have loads of it." Eliza informed her sekirei, smiling at the prospect of eating to her heart's content without worrying about financial issues.

"No need to apologise ashikabi, spending time with you is worth getting up early." Akitsu responding smiling ever so slightly at the younger woman while still managing to keep a mostly neutral expression.

"I agree, a date with our ashikabi is better than sleep." Kochou added her input.

Blushing slightly at the compliment, the red head coughed slightly before quickly continuing the conversation and not focusing too much on how sincere the women were about spending time with the teenager. "That's, er, certainly good to hear. Once we get to the station, the train journey takes about over an hour but the restaurant is pretty close after that."

"How did you find this restaurant when it seems so far out of your way?" The grey haired woman asked, ever the information sekirei, interested in gathering ever piece of data about her ashikabi.

"Ah well I didn't actually find it. A old work colleague of mine used to love going there, think he had a boyfriend who worked as a chef there at one point or something but even after he stopped working at the restaurant, my co-worker still liked the food there." The teenager explained, not wanting to lie and take credit for discovering the gem of a restaurant, especially since she didn't want them to ask her to show them around the area. She hadn't explored that much of Tokyo while she had been there, she had been far to busy for that. "I had just moved to Tokyo when I started my job and didn't know of any good places to eat or really do anything. My co-worker showed me around, made the place seem a lot less terrifying than it was to me at the beginning." She finished, reminiscing slightly about her friend who had really helped her get settled in when she had first arrived.

Noticing the fond way Eliza talked about this person, the two older women shared a look seeming to converse the same feelings towards each other through just eye contact. They were happy that their ashikabi had such a nice friend and was glad someone had been there for her before they could be, to ease her fears, a job they would now do themselves so their destined one could be happy and unafraid with her sekirei by her side.

"He sounds like a nice person, ashikabi." Akitsu stated in that quiet voice of hers, internally thinking that it was obvious he would be nice if he was friends with the kind teenager who had taken in a broken sekirei. She only didn't voice the last bit, knowing how her ashikabi got when she mentioned her inability to be winged.

"A worthy friend for you." Kochou added, seeming on a similar train of thought. "Do you still keep in contact now that, I gather, you no longer work together." She asked pushing her glasses further up her nose, causing them to flash in the reflecting light of the sun.

Eliza's face saddened as she thought back to her old friend, wishing she hadn't brought it up, since it just brought up bad memories but quickly shook it off. "No unfortunately due to cut backs he ended up losing his job and having to move back with his family." She paused briefly slightly adding to herself that that was the fate of many of her co-workers. "I lost touch with him after that, things got a little hectic with work you see. It was a shame really." The red head added as an afterthought.

Reaching out to comfort her ashikabi, Kochou pulled Eliza's arm between her breasts, pulling her again her body in order to lean her chin on the younger woman's shoulder. Effectively stopping her ashikabi with Akitsu halting herself mere feet away from the pair.

"I'm sorry to hear that ashikabi." The information sekirei murmured into the human's ear, pulling her closer. "It is a terrible thing to lose a friend but we will do our best to fill the hole he has left."

Eliza couldn't help but smile at Kochou's sincere words, replying in an equally quiet voice, "Thank you but I think you already have." Breaking eye contact with hazel eyes to meet the gaze of her other sekirei, she continued, " Both of you." Smiling she pulled her arm free in order to embrace Kochou and Akitsu, needed to convey her thanks with physical affection. It was hard for Eliza to believe how quickly these women had worked their way into her heart when she had only know them for a couple of days but then again they were also aliens so it wasn't the most far fetched thing she has had to believe in this week.

Pulling away from the embrace, her smiling now reaching her eyes, the young ashikabi intertwined her fingers with each of her sekirei and continued on there journey, the day already looking brighter than the last, despite everything.

* * *

The rest of the walk to the train station was relatively peaceful, with the younger of the three women questioning her sekirei on trivia topics such as favourite foods, finding their culinary range quite poor due to being locked in MBI most of their lives, but also finding out that Akitsu's powers seemed to affect her taste. Disliking hot beverages especially yet apparently also never trying ice cream, a fact when revealed had Eliza already planning another tip to an ice cream parlour in order to rectify that. Kochou on the other hand knew of many different foods and cooking styles but had never experienced most of what she knew, something else the teenager planned to fix.

Eliza learnt a fair bit about her sekirei's interests, or at least Kochou's, Akitsu seeming not to have much knowledge of the outside world, but seemed content to listen to her sister sekirei's knowledge, occasionally adding her thoughts, mostly when prompted, however overall claimed her ashikabi was all she needed, causing said ashikabi to blush bright red at being referred to as all someone needed to be happy. No one had ever needed her like that before.

Reaching the train station, they luckily only had to wait 5 minutes for the train to arrive. They managed to find three seats together, with Eliza feeling slightly out of place sitting between two gorgeous women. They got a few odd looks, most likely due to Akitsu's strange attire or just the sekirei's stunning beauty but thankfully no one approached them. The train ride itself was spent in a comfortable silence, all three women not willing to reveal information about themselves in the chance of letting something slip about the Sekirei plan on pubic transport but were content to just sit with each other.

While staring out the window during one of the train's stops, Eliza heard a group of what looked to be college students board the train, talking loudly to each other. They all seemed to be discussing the entrance exam for what she assumed was Tokyo university that they had just sat, swapping answers and mutual feelings of unease of the upcoming result which would apparently be posted incredibly quickly, at some point the next day.

"I guess I overestimated how long the library would have been crammed full of students revising for that exam." The teenager thought to herself before shrugging and ignoring the group of students, it didn't really effect her that much anyway, she doubted she would have much time to read with everything going on in her life. Sighing at how complex her life had become, Eliza tried to relax into the chair she was seated in and just enjoy her day out with her sekirei.

* * *

Eliza's prediction of the train journey had been correct, taking them just over an hour to reach their stop. Glancing down at her watch, the red head read the time at 11:37am meaning they were making good time and would reach the restaurant around lunch time. Heading off again, the two sekirei followed their ashikabi as she lead the way.

However they had only been walking for about 10 minutes before the sounds of fighting reached their ears, sound of which were heading in their directions. Looking around the pretty empty street, three pairs of eyes were drawn upwards by the sound of cracking concrete. On top of the building in front of the trio, they could see what appeared to be two figures diving from the roof as concrete was flying at them from behind, seeming as if something had exploded on the rood and debris was flying everywhere.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me." Eliza said in disbelief at the sight before her. Could she go no where without finding a fight? Never leaving the apartment was starting to feel like a good game plan at this rate.

Glancing to the side, the young woman wondered if they could leave before the other sekirei saw them and tried to attack them. However before they could act on any plans of running, the two sekirei had landed ahead of them, cracking the pavement as they hit the ground. Pink hair caught the ashikabi's eyes and dread started to fill her. The angry girl from MBI was here along with the bandaged girl, who looked far more intimidating now wearing a dark kimono, a studded collar and metal gauntlets compared to when she was in a hospital gown making fun of the red eyed girl.

Luckily for the group though, the two sekirei hadn't seemed to have noticed them, far more concerned with what Eliza now saw was three other sekirei following them who were currently about to jump of the roof after them. The red head couldn't be sure of the conversation between the two sekirei in front of her, but from the looks of the pink haired one it seemed heated, the pair seemed to have come to the conclusion to fight their attackers, perhaps fed up of running.

"What is going on?" Eliza asked, confused as to why there seemed to be no ashikabis around during this particular fight, along with the fact that didn't the rules state all sekirei battles were 1v1.

As expected Kochou answered for her. "It seems that those three sekirei are attempting to outnumber and therefore terminated those two sekirei in front of us. Though the fact that the two members of the disciplinary squad are on the retreat is surprising. From what I gathered about their power level due to adjustments and intention of serving as the game's 'referees' and in order to enforce the Game Master's rules, they should be quite capable in holding their own in a fight." The information sekirei informed, seeming curious about knowledge she did not possess and completely unconcerned about the battle waging on in front of them.

"But they are outnumber." The red head rationalised.

"Correct but only by one sekirei. It just seemed usual and unlikely given all available data. Running also does not fit their profiles." Kochou explained, her professional aura at full force.

Instead of questioning that new information, Eliza turned back to what looked to be an intense fight and knew that despite who those two sekirei were and who they worked for, the teenager couldn't in good conscience let them be terminated in an unfair fight, especially when they seemed to be unwilling to fight the other sekirei in the first place.

Turning to her sekirei the youngest of the three asked, "Are you two with me? 'Cause I have an idea and I'm about to do something stupid and dangerous but hopefully it will resolve this situation. You in?" She repeated the question, needed to know her sekireis' answer before going forward.

Both nodded with Akitsu giving a soft "Always," to accompany her gesture of agreement.

"Good. Let's see if we can help those two out, hopefully before they tear the street apart." Turning towards the issuing chaos of a sekirei battle, the three women ran towards the fight to try and intervene and see if whatever their ashikabi planned to do would work.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Well I went through and fixed most of the previous chapters errors, at least the ones I noticed during the reread and the ones pointed out, the amount of them was unsurprising considering the lack of proof reading that chapter received due to the time of night I finished writing it, hopefully it's easier to read now and this one will have fewer mistakes, though I can't promise there won't be any. I was going to post this yesterday but I changed my mind on where to end it so here it is, the longest chapter I've wrote yet so please enjoy. :)**

* * *

_Slightly earlier that day_

Coming to rest on top a yet another roof top, the hundredth one probably by the pink haired sekirei's count, the two girls stopped to catch there breath and cast their gaze around the city, which seemed far bigger now than it did from MBI tower.

Growling in frustration, the red eyed sekirei crossed her arms over her chest and spun on her heels to face her partner. "How the hell does anyone find their ashikabi in this city?" She all but yelled, annoyed that they had been unable to follow their ashikabi once she had disappeared during the pairs argument.

The grey haired sekirei merely shrugged with an almost bored expression on her face, not bothering to face her companion while she scanned the area.

Her annoyance growing at the clawed girl's disinterest and even more so at the absence of her ashikabi, the pink haired continued her rant regardless of the other sekirei's attention. "If you hadn't started making fun of my breast we wouldn't even be in this situation!" She yelled out, her temper already fraying at the remembrance of the flat chested comment. "She wouldn't have left and we would be with our ashikabi right now still at MBI instead out here in the middle of this stupid city, surrounded by even more stupid humans with our ashikabi no where in sight!" Sighing and turning to once again look at her surroundings she continued at a much quieter volume. "It was bad enough we had to stay for our last adjustments to be completed. It's been two days. She may have left the city. She may have forgotten us already..." She mumbled, a feeling of dread coming over her.

"I was just being honest to our ashikabi about your non existent boobs." Her companion piped up with a smirk appearing on her lips, seeming to have only taken that out of her sister sekirei's rant.

"MY BOOBS AR-" The red eyed sekirei's temper flared up again, turning around to face, and most likely yell, at her fellow sekirei only to notice an unnatural fog rolling across the roof at an alarming rate, obscuring most of the roof in seconds. "What the...?"

Her companion quickly noticing the change, tensed in preparation of an attack, listening carefully for any sounds that would give her opponent away.

"What the hell?!" The angry sekirei yelled. "Show yourselves cowards and challenge us properly!" Her words seemed to be swallowed up by the fog that was only getting thicker.

The only response to the shouting was giggling coming from one area of the roof that the pair couldn't see properly. All they could make out was three shadowy outlines within the dense fog.

"I'm Benitsubasa, number 105! Name yourselves so I can crush you!" The challenge was yelled towards the giggling. However her partner did not agree with her, seeing that they were outnumbered, she merely turned around and jumped from the roof, forcing her companion to follow suit. "Dammit Haihane!" she shouted as she followed, just missing the whip that struck where she had been standing, shattering the concrete of the roof. Quickly jumping far enough to be in hearing range, "We could have taken them!"

"We are outnumber and unwinged. We need to find our ashikabi first and them tear them apart." She calmly stated, the last part bringing out a slightly crazed smile and a dark look in her eyes. Begrudging agreeing, the fist type sekirei didn't argue but clenched her fists and kept jumping. Annoyed at the lose of their prey, the three sekirei quickly fell into pursuit of the pair.

* * *

The two unwinged sekirei spent the next hour, barely keeping ahead of the pursuing attackers. Attempting to avoid the remains of buildings hurtling at them from behind whenever the blond sekirei in the bee coloured Chinese styled dress struck her whip into the spot the pair had briefly landed on. Not to mention staying far enough away from the whip sekirei's twin, who Benitsubasa found out the hard way, has nearly invisible wires that were near impossible to break and were very capable of ripping through clothes and skin. Something the angry sekirei had endured, shredding her left black kimono shirt sleeve and cutting into the flesh on her arm, when she had briefly slowed her pace to assess the enemy. She didn't want to get trapped in a web of those wires.

All this while listening to the twins change from taunting them to threatening them, making it really hard for one of the sekirei not to stop and tell the twins just what she thought of them.

"Just give up already." One of the twins yelled as their targets once again narrowly missed their attacks.

"You're going to eventually tire out. Why not make it easier on yourself and let us take you to our master." The other one added, the third sekirei following at the back remained quiet.

"Oh shut up, we're not going back to your creepy ashikabi!" Benitsubasa threw over her shoulder before flinging herself out of the way of a giant slab of concrete that barely missed her. "He sounds like a pervert!" She added for good measure.

Growling in unison, the twins redoubled there attack efforts, finding more energy within themselves in order to defend their ashikabi's honour.

Unfortunately for Benitsubasa and Haihane they were running out of roofs and were coming up to a seemingly empty street. Not wanting to get cornered or blocked in on the street but having nowhere else to go, the pair hesitated for a moment before leaping from the building just in time. They landing together cracking the street and sending a slight shockwave along the ground.

"That's it!" The pink haired sekirei yelled. "I'm tired of running and I really want to punch the smug smiles of those idiots' faces!"

Nodding Haihane agreed, "We can't outrun them, we better make a stand before we are too tired to fight back."

Benitsubasa grinned, punching her fist into her palm before saying, "Let's crush them." Haihane also shared a grin at the prospect of shredding these sekirei to pieces. Turning to see the three sekirei standing atop the ruined roof, the pair flipped backwards a short distance, ready to stand and fight.

* * *

Running towards the battle that was already turning chaotic and very destructive, Eliza felt her self preservation instincts leaving her, fed up of her stupid decisions to run towards danger instead of away and for just generally making choices that led to life threatening situations. As the young ashikabi sprinted towards the fight, trying her best to keep her footing when the earth just seemed to be shaking and crumbling beneath her feet, she looked upon the fight to see how the outnumbered sekirei were fairing.

The bandaged one had one claw currently seemingly stuck in mid air while the other slashed around at something Eliza's eyes could not see, but the metal girl appeared adamant needed destroying, while a blonde girl in a slashed western black and yellow dress, stood grinning before the struggling grey haired sekirei. On the other hand the pink haired sekirei seemed to be coping better in her fight, despite a dishevelled appearance and a bloody wound on her arm, she had managed to get up close and personal to the clone of the first blonde, the only difference being her weapon choice, and was currently punching her repeatedly.

Oddly enough the third sekirei, who the young ashikabi assumed had an elemental ability like Akitsu, was standing back watching the fog move around the battle scene, most likely to obscure the fight from non players' eyes, but was not actually physically participating in the fight. Or at least not yet. The fog had yet to reach the pink and grey haired sekirei.

Thinking quickly as they drew closer, Eliza addressed Akitsu. "When we get close enough to talk can you produce an ice wall to block of the two teams of sekirei?" She asks, panting slightly during the question due to the run.

"Of course ashikabi." The brown haired sekirei responded, not even looking winded in the slightest.

"And Kochou just play along with whatever I say, alright?"

"As you wish ashikabi." The information sekirei responded, while not winded she did not seem to be enjoying the physical exertion.

Nodding to herself, the ashikabi mentally crossed her fingers and hoped this wouldn't lead to another close call or worse an actual death, for either side. She didn't know if she could stomach seeing another life drain away so soon after the horrendous sight of the first murder she had witnessed, and part took in.

Finally close enough to be within the fog created border and realise, even more so, how dangerous sekirei were up close, Akitsu summoned an ice wall that sprang from the ground between the two fighting pairs, forcing the pink haired sekirei and blonde to fling themselves apart to avoid being skewed and freeing the trapped claw of the grey haired sekirei and seeming to secure whatever weapon the other blond was using in the ice.

All eyes turned to the new sekirei joining the battle that were now encased in a circle of fog along with the five original fighters and stood either side of an ashikabi. However for those sekirei that had instant questions and wanted answers, they had to wait for the only human in the area to regain her breath. Said human currently had her hands on her knees panting slightly at having to run full pelt down the street to reach them before they destroyed the place.

The short tempered sekirei, who would have already yelled at the intruder for interrupting the fight she had been winning, was currently stunned silent at her ashikabi having came and found her. She was so happy that she had found her destined one, she barely noticed the women accompanying what was her ashikabi and was also forgetting about the fight that was presently taking place. Benitsubasa was snapped out of her slight daze when the blonde she had been fighting decided to speak up.

"Stay out of this! This is not your fight. These sekirei belong to my master." She announced to the human who was just now regaining her breath and composing herself.

Furrowing her brow in confusion at the term master, the young ashikabi quickly filed it away under 'not currently important to avoiding death or pain in this deadly situation' category which oddly had quite a few facts in it from dangerous encounters. "Well if they were you master's," Eliza started, the word master tasting foul on her tongue, "they would be coming willingly with you to be winged by him." She stated, confused slightly at why the referees of the game hadn't been winged yet unless of course the sekirei were mistaken or lying to get her to leave.

"Anyway," The red head continued before she could be interrupted. "Despite whatever reasons I have for joining this fight, the fact remains that I am. And we outnumber you." The teenager spoke clearly, trying to imbue every word with as much confidence as she could muster and hope she could bluff her way out of this.

"Two unwinged exhausted sekirei and those two?" The other twin asked. "Doesn't really work outnumbering us when we out-power you."

Smiling at the response she received, the ashikabi slid her hands into the front pocket of her jeans, exuding an air of casual confidence. "True, two unwinged sekirei but don't dismiss mine so easily. You haven't seen my girls fight. You have no idea what they're capable of." She stated smiling even more while Haihane looked on with raised eyebrows at the behaviour of her soon to be ashikabi and Benitsubasa looked on with an impressed smug expression at her ashikabi's confidence, trying hard to ignore the jealous flare at her ashikabi referring to the others as 'her girls'.

Akitsu and Kochou however kept their emotional masks in place, the former a neutral bored expression and the latter a calm and collected fearless mask. Both trusting fully in their destined one's plan and her ability to pull it off.

Seeing that the twins weren't giving up and seeing them about to open their mouths again, the red head quickly added, "Oh and we also have our noritos available to us but it seems your ashikabi is absent, what a pity. I think that puts you even more at a disadvantage. I don't know what hope you have at winning, but its dwindling fast." Her smile was in full force now and she met the eyes of both twins in turn, conveying the seriousness of her claim.

However her eyes were drawn to the sekirei furthest at the back of the battle, one she was embarrassed to admit she had forgot was there, by a thoughtful sound of someone weighing their options. "She does have a single number and I am unaware of her other sekirei's abilities, it seems it would be best if we retreat." The long grey haired women concluded out loud before turning to make eye contact with the red head. "Another time perhaps?" Then without waiting for her fellow sekirei to agree or disagree, the tallest sekirei turned and retreated the way she came.

The twins exchanged an annoyed glance but seeing their chance at winning decreasing, soon too decided to retreat with their sister sekirei, albeit not before one yelled about regretting not choosing their master and making a powerful enemy and the other pulled her weapon from the ice.

Once the three enemy sekirei were out of sight, Eliza dropped the aura of confidence she had been focused of projecting and let out a sigh of relief that her plan had somehow worked and not backfired horribly. "I can't believe that actually worked." The red head muttered. "I thought for sure those twins were going to attack us anyway. Lucky that other one wasn't up for it." She turned to face her sekirei as she continued.

"The fog sekirei, no.65 I believe, did seem unwillingly to exert any extra effort in obtaining the unwinged sekirei, if she had been willing to take on unfavourable odds it may have been a different story especially if we followed the one on one rule, then our numbers would not have mattered." Kochou expertly informed her ashikabi to which the young woman nodded.

"Yeah we got lucky in that respect." Eliza agreed.

"We succeeded because of your plan ashikabi." Akitsu stated, her tone leaving no room for arguments. In the ice sekirei's opinion it was not luck but her ashikabi's intelligence that prevented a battle and no one could persuade her otherwise.

Blushing sightly the teenager mumbled a 'thanks' before pointing out that the plan wouldn't have worked without her sekirei.

"Speaking of which," The information sekirei responded, "you have never seen me fight ashikabi." She raised her eyebrow at the redhead who's smile returned to her as she put her hands back in her pockets, shrugging.

"They didn't know that and technically I never said I'd seen you fight either. I merely implied it." Eliza pointed out. "It's hardly my fault what assumption they made from vague statement." She finished, grinning at her sekirei.

"You seem quite proud of yourself ashikabi, due to that technicality." The grey haired woman replied, looking amused.

"I really am. I feel like I'm getting this whole ashikabi thing down. Plus I said I wouldn't put you in a fight if I could avoid it and at this moment in time I'm succeeding at protecting my ladies. Well at least I am when you're not protecting me." Eliza said, looking gratefully between her sekirei at that last part.

Meanwhile, during the time the three women had spent chatting among themselves, Benitsubasa had been yelling at the cowardly sekirei for running away, having wanted to crush them in front of her ashikabi. Now however, seeing as she would not be getting the fight she wanted, the pink haired sekirei turned to address her ashikabi along with Haihane who had been watching the trio curiously during their discussion.

"Hey you three, we're still here." The red eyed girl all but yelled, annoyed that she didn't have her ashikabi's attention but the two big breasted women did.

"Oh right yeah." Eliza said turning to face the other two sekirei who she had momentarily forgotten about and hoped they were just going to say thank you and leave. She had just avoided a fight and this ashikabi had no intention of starting another one. She just hoped her previous smugness at her plan succeeding wasn't going to come back and bite her in the butt.

Now looking directly at the pink haired sekirei who addressed her, if not particularly politely though that could be excused given her injured state, Eliza spoke up. "Well everything appeared to have ended peacefully just now so we'll just be on our way and leave you to find your ashikabi." The teen said, not wanting to be seen as a threat and internally wishing they didn't remember her from their encounter in MBI tower. Moving as if to walk away, the red eyed girl's yell stopped her.

"No wait it's you!" Benitsubasa yelled, stopping Eliza in her tracks. "We've been looking for you." She told the red head at a more reasonable volume.

"That's what I was afraid of..." The ashikabi muttered to herself though each sekirei heard it clearly.

Akitsu and Kochou kept on their neutral expressions though were curious as to way their ashikabi was turning away the unwinged sekirei who had just announced she had reacted to her, if only not in those exact words, when she had accepted both of them even though one couldn't be winged. Haihane kept her facial expression bored but there was a hurt look in her eyes. Benitsubasa just looked defeated, unable to keep her emotions from showing all across her face and through her body language.

Eliza however didn't notice this sudden change is the pink haired sekirei or any of the other women's feelings, having already carried on talking at a fast pace, with a slightly panicked tone to her voice. "What does the discipline squad want with me? I know MBI and I aren't on the best of terms but I thought with this whole battle royale thing going on they were letting bygones be bygones." The teenager ramblings pausing to take a breath but before she could continue Haihane butted it.

"That's not why we're here"

"Wait, it's not? Then why are you here?" Eliza asked, refraining herself from jumping to any more conclusion while thinking to herself, "Great, my paranoia is showing."

Perking up slightly at the fact her ashikabi wasn't rejecting her but annoyed at the teenager for not realising they had been looking for her to wing them, she replied with, "We reacted to you, idiot."

"Oh." The human intelligently responded, passing her hand through her short red hair as she laughed nervously. "I guess that's also a valid reason for tracking me down. I just assumed with you being in the discipline squad and all..." She left the sentence hanging, it's meaning clear, and shrugged, letting her hand flop back to her side.

"We're not part of the discipline squad." Benitsubasa replied, her mind going back to the memory of meeting Natsuo, the man who Minaka thought was meant to be their ashikabi. She hadn't felt anything in his presence and Haihane had said she felt the same. He was nothing compared to their true destined one, who even at this distance, the pink haired sekirei could feel the warmth spreading through her body.

"You're not? But Kochou said you were." The teen asked, confused and amazed that her information sekirei may have got something wrong.

"We were going to be but the disciplinary squad's ashikabi isn't our true ashikabi." Haihane helpfully volunteered the information when Kochou seemed to unable to find a reason for them leaving the discipline squad with her limited knowledge on when and under what circumstances they had met her ashikabi and reacted to her.

"So I interfered with MBI's personal sekirei team?" The red head asked no one in particular. "They're just getting more reasons to love me by the minute." She sarcastically said before shrugging it off and continuing, "But considering I'm a piece in their game of death, I doubt there's much more they will do to me. Minaka seems fanatical about the Sekirei Plan and it's rules."

"All past interactions with MBI does seem to be erased while participating in the game." Kochou informed, most likely hinting at Eliza's other actions against the giant overpowered company so to avoid that conversational topic the teenager brought the focus back to the unwinged sekirei.

"It does seem that way. But on a different note, I think introductions should perhaps be addressed. We never did properly introduce ourselves last time we met." Eliza pointed out.

Blushing slightly at the memory of how she had acted when they met, the pink haired sekirei quickly introduced herself. "Benitsubasa, No.105, the red sekirei."

"Haihane, No.104, the blue sekirei." The clawed sekirei informed her stepping forward during her introduction, her cheeks reddening as she neared the human.

"Eliza Quinn and these are my sekirei Akitsu No.07 and Kochou No.22." The red head introduced the other two women as well before bowing politely, an action all sekirei copied though, Benitsubasa even managed to do it why glaring at the two older sekirei. "Nice to officially meet you."

"Now that we know each others names' ashikabi, I think we should make this official." Haihane said, growing bored of waiting to be winged, the gothic looking sekirei was suddenly in front of the teenager, gripping the front of her hoodie and somehow managing not to rip into the hoodie Eliza had put on before leaving the apartment.

Impressed at not being sliced up by the claws but also still very concerned about the damage they could do to her, Eliza froze, staring slightly wide eyed at the metal weapon. Her sekirei made no move against Haihane as she moved closer to their ashikabi, her breathing becoming laboured and her cheeks flushing extremely red.

Kochou was fully aware of the necessity of more fighters in their team and the power the almost discipline squad members could bring, along with the fact that even unwinged the other sekirei would most likely defeat her in a battle. Akitsu on the other hand was sure she could easily defeat the other sekirei if they were a threat but was unwilling to deny any sekirei their destined one when she had found her own unless her ashikabi demanded it, which she doubted she would.

Benitsubasa though, didn't feel the same way. "Hey wait! That's not fair! You can't be winged first!" She yelled, leaping forward, ready to beat Haihane to her ashikabi's lips. Unfortunately for her, the ice sekirei was beside her instantly, holding her back in concern of the two unwinged sekirei fighting and causing harm to her ashikabi.

Eliza however didn't notice this, distracted by the beautiful sekirei that was pulling her closer, blushing so much that even dressed as intimidatingly as she was, the human couldn't see her as anything but adorable.

"Be my... ashikabi." Haihane managed to say between pants as her breathing became more laboured.

Not needing anymore prompting and by now knew what she was meant to do, Eliza leant in. Reaching her left hand up to cup the blue sekirei's cheek while her right hand gently held Haihane's other gauntlet safely away from her body, the red head captured her new sekirei's lips with her own. As the two shared a not entirely chaste kiss, black wings of light erupted from Haihane's neck, signalling their contract and bonded them together forever.

Pulling back from the kiss both women were breathing slightly harder than before while smiling at each other, showing Haihane was not as emotionally immune to finding her ashikabi as she had been trying to portray during her and Benitsubasa's search of the city.

"Wire claws of my pledge, tear apart the guards imprisoning my ashikabi." No.104 recited while looking deeply into her ashikabi's eyes.

Carefully removing the claw from it's grip on her hoodie so she could turn and face Benitsubasa, Eliza couldn't help but think how helpful Haihane's pledge would have been in escaping MBI tower on the day they had met.

The young ashikabi turned to find Akitsu having moved to stand closer to a certain pink haired sekirei who seemed to be pouting at being left to last. Smiling to herself about how it made the sekirei look extremely cute and far less terrifying than when she was yelling at her the first time they met, Eliza walked the few feet to stand in front of the shorter woman. She reached out both hands, placing them on the pouting sekirei's waist and pulling her closer, watching her face heat up and her chest begin to rapidly rise and fall at the human's close proximity.

"Do you still wish to be my sekirei?" Eliza asked in a hushed whisper, feeling that talking too loud may ruin the moment and perhaps snap the sekirei out of her daze so she could call her an idiot again for some reason or another.

Benitsubasa looked up and only managed to nod, not trusting her voice to come out desperate and make her look weak in front of her ashikabi.

Her smile widening even more, Eliza lent down to meet Benitsubasa's lips and to wing the fiery sekirei. Their kiss only lasting a moment before bright pink wings flared to life, illuminating everyone in a pink glow as the two continued to kiss for a while longer in the light before it faded and they pulled away to breath.

"Palm of my pledge, crush the stones torturing my ashikabi." Benitsubasa recited, smiling up at her ashikabi who still held her close.

Smiling back the young ashikabi looked around at her four sekirei standing on the empty cracked street with stray concrete debris scattered around them and didn't have a clue on how she was going to handle four super powered women being bonded to her. However despite this concern about how she was going to cope, care equally for all her sekirei and not get killed or them killed in a battle, Eliza couldn't have felt more content in that moment, surrounded by her sekirei. She couldn't explain it, and probably never would be able to without chocking it up to 'aliens I guess' as a reason, but these women she barely knew had already found their own places in her heart and for some strange reason the teenager didn't mind it in the slightest.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: I've finally finished this chapter! I've been stuck half way through it for ages and hopefully now that I've completed this one it won't be as long until the next chapter. I'll probably try to keep writing sekirei fanfic to stay in the right mindset so hopefully I'll avoid the terrible writer's block I had. Anyway here's the chapter, enjoy :)**

* * *

After winging the two sekirei, Eliza took a step back to figure out what they should do next as it probably wasn't safe to stay where they just barely avoided a fight. For all she knew those sekireis' ashikabi may have more, unsurprising considering they were trying to capture unwinged sekirei, and he might send more after then. That and also sticking around destroyed public property probably wouldn't be her smartest idea, not her worst all things considered, but not the best either. However before the young ashikabi could dwell on her options any longer, a growling stomach to her left made the decision for her.

Looking over to her newest sekirei, Benitsubasa blushed in embarrassment and mumbled something about not having eaten all day. To which Haihane's stomach made itself known as if in order to emphasise her sister sekirei's point.

Smiling reassuring at the red and blue sekirei, Eliza spoke up. "Well good thing we were heading to lunch before we ran into you two. I don't think fighting helped with the hunger, especially with how fast sekirei metabolism is." The red head said, relaying some of the information Kochou had told her about sekirei biology.

"Oh where are you taking us to lunch?" The pink haired sekirei asked cheerfully, seemingly still happy after kissing her ashikabi as well as the prospect of a date with the human, despite the other women joining them.

Eliza was impressed that the shorter girl was still in a positive mood, especially considering how quickly her temper flared, but her eyes were drawn to the wound she had seen earlier during the fight and her brow creased in concern. Reaching out to gently take Benitsubasa's left arm, the sekirei allowing her to do so with no complaint, in order to examine the wound, she responded to her sekirei. "It's a surprise but first your wounds need to be addressed." The red head stated.

Shrugging but not pulling her arm free from the teens grasp, the shorter woman tried to brush it off. "I'm fine, it's not much more than a scratch." She declared, trying to show how strong she was to her ashikabi, that she could continue going despite her injuries.

Trying her hardest not to roll her eyes at her sekirei's display of bravado as she could already tell how stubborn this new member of their group was going to be, Eliza decided to do a different approach. "Well as your ashikabi it is my duty to care for you girls so I would be failing you all if I didn't see to your wounds."

Seeing that this strategy seems to have convinced the fist sekirei not to let herself bleed out on the street in some prideful/stubborn attempt at showing strength when all Benitsubasa did in response to her words was blush slightly at the concern for her well being her ashikabi was showing her, Eliza tucked that information away for later use. It would most likely come in handy with dealing with the stubborn sekirei further down the road.

While the redhead was glad her idea had worked, No.105 was congratulating herself on picking such a dedicated ashikabi who, unlike that moron Minaka had wanted to wing her to, actually cared about her. Something of which that suited idiot, by the look in his eyes, did not. Benitsubasa could already tell that her true ashikabi cared for her even after just having met and had put herself in danger to protect her, not that Benitsubasa needed it but still the intention was pure.

Kochou smiled to herself at how easily the teen managed to convince her newest sister, admiring her quick thinking and was glad the young human would be able to manage the short fused sekirei which would hopefully lead to less altercations between the group. High powered combat sekirei stuck in an enclosed space, such as an apartment, was a fight waiting to break out. It had been one of the reasons why sekirei were adjusted in batches, less sekirei in one area at a time lead to less injuries or destroyed labs.

The information sekirei was pulled out of her concerns of violence between the group by her ashikabi turning to face her. Regaining her neutral expression and professional aura, Kochou prepared to offer her vast knowledge to aid her destined one.

"There's probably a shop around here somewhere that sells first aid kits." Eliza stated as she thought over how to best tend to the shorter girls injuries. "Kochou, any chance you can find such a shop so we don't need to wander around aimlessly? I only really know the restaurant in this area."

Pulling out a phone from one of the many pockets Kochou's outfit apparently had and adjusting her glasses, the sekirei did a quick search before finding the data she needed. "There is a cluster of shops just a few streets away, east of here." She informed the group.

"Well then I guess that's our first stop and it doesn't take us too far off the direction of the restaurant." Eliza said, mentally adding the purchase of some phones in order to stay in communication with her sekirei to the list if she saw any. However as the group of women headed off in the direction of the shops, the teenager felt the need to alleviate any worries, especially to her newer sekirei, that she could actual care for them. "I do actually have first aid supplies at home for emergencies but since we're so far from my apartment I thought it would be better to buy some bandages and stuff instead of having to deal with a case of blood loss."

"They're in your bedroom if I remember correctly ashikabi." Akitsu quietly responded in a casual tone with a hint of a smile, thinking back to the day the red head had offered to tend any injuries she may had after bringing the sekirei into her home.

Benitsubasa however took the words and the beginning of a smile to mean a far less innocent thing and she could feel her temper flaring that this large breasted sekirei had been in her ashikabi's bedroom and knew specific details about what the room contained. The pink haired girl knew these two sekirei couldn't have been with her human for more than a couple a days but it seemed they already had a far too big of a lead than she would have liked in gaining their ashikabi's affections.

Her fellow ex-disciplinary squad member however seem to have no such concerns even if she did take the brunette's words for more than they were but rather saw an opportunity to mess with Benitsubasa. "Our ashikabi probably likes sleeping against those huge breasts of her." Haihane said, adding fuel to the sparks of the fist types rage and laughing to herself, knowing the other sekirei would take the bait.

Seeing the fight that was most likely take place due to the teasing, Kochou wisely slowed her pace slightly in order to at least be out of arm range if the shorter girl lashed out. Thankfully Eliza hadn't dropped Benitsubasa's arm when they had started walking and also noticing what was going to happen, and expecting she would be seeing this a lot more now with the latest additions to her group, pulled the angry sekirei towards herself.

Almost instantly the shorter of the two became distracted by her close proximity to her ashikabi, leaning towards the red head to further contact. Eliza slid the arm holding her sekirei to around smaller girl's waist, giving Haihane a 'really?' look before quickening the pace slightly. The faster they got to the restaurant, the better. Food would help, hopefully.

* * *

The group managed to reach the shops without anyone punching anyone or anything, mostly due to the relatively tight hold the ashikabi had on Benitsubasa which, despite the clawed sekirei's comments, kept her relatively peaceful.

Eliza succeeded in buying first aid supplies in the first shop she looked in and sent Kochou and Haihane to buy a load of mobile phones, knowing that some would probably get destroyed some way or another, along with a rucksack. She also sent the Gothic sekirei accompanying her least battle ready sekirei in case of a fight and so she would stop teasing Benitsubasa while she was trying to fix her arm.

The remaining trio moved slightly into an alleyway to avoid awkward stares or questions while she bandaged her newest sekirei's injury with surprising ease despite the stubbornness from earlier. It seemed Benitsubasa enjoyed the teen fussing over her.

"There, all done." Eliza said as she finished tying up the last bandage. "Now there's no worry of you bleeding out through lunch."

Benitsubasa snorted, "I would have been fine," she crossed her arm over her chest before mumbling, "but thanks ashikabi." Her lips tilting up at the title.

"You're welcome." The teen responded clearly grinning down at the pink headed girl before turning to Akitsu. "We should probably go find the others, then its not to far to the restaurant."

Akitsu merely nodded in reply and turned to walk back towards the shops to find her sister sekirei, the other two following after her. The Ice sekirei spotted Kochou exiting a phone shop a little way down the path and headed towards her.

When the trio reached her, they all noticed the absence of the blue sekirei and when asked about Haihane's whereabouts, Kochou just pointed towards a video game shop with a, "She didn't even make it to the phone shop when she saw that shop."

"Wait here, I'll go get her." Eliza said before turning to go retrieve her wandering sekirei.

She found the clawed woman almost glued to the glass of the store front window, fascinated by the shops display a game of which Eliza could not see from her angle of approach. "See anything interesting?"

Almost jumping at the sound, Haihane turned around to grin at her ashikabi. "There are so many games here." She declared excitably. "The adjusters rarely let me play them and even the ones they had weren't very good."

"Well we probably should be getting on but if you want, we could come back later and you could pick out some games you want to try." Eliza suggested thinking that it probably wouldn't end well making four hungry sekirei keep waiting for food.

"Really?" She asked, looking hopefully at her ashikabi before becoming slightly nervous. "Do you think we could play them together ashikabi?" Her eyes were slightly cast down at the last question, not wanting to face rejection from the red head.

"Yeah and course we can," the teen assured, resting her hand on the other girl's shoulder, "but with sekirei reflexes you'll probably have me beat on most games." She joked.

Haihane merely grinned in response before Benitsubasa yelled over if they were ready to go yet. Turning towards the rest of her sekirei, she responded with a "Yeah, this way." and walked off in the direction of the restaurant, the other women following suit.

* * *

After a short walk the restaurant was revealed to be an American themed diner, sitting besides a beautiful park, one Eliza noted would be a nice place to have a picnic with her girls when the weather was nicer.

"Here we are." She announced with a grin as she headed towards the entrance to find a table now for five people, hoping it wouldn't be too busy. "While it's not exactly home cooked food, American food isn't that far off and it was a nice change of cuisine especially when I first moved here." The red head explained before suddenly remembering something and stopped at the doors. She spun on her heels and retrieved the rucksack Akitsu somehow ended up carrying. "Before we go in though we probably should try to look more discreet and also less criminal." Her eyes flicked to Haihane's claws. "I don't particularly want to get banned for bringing a weapon into this place, would you mind putting your gauntlets in here until after we leave?" She asked, hoping the Gothic sekirei wouldn't mind too much.

"If that's what you think is best ashikabi." The blue sekirei responded slightly down at having to remove her weapons but took them off and placed them in the bag for her ashikabi.

"Thanks Haihane." Eliza said before shouldering the rucksack and taking Haihane's right hand with her left causing her sekirei to smile in response to which she added, "To keep it warm while I hold on to your gauntlets." Pulling the bandaged girl along with her, the teen walked into the diner taking a few steps to the counter and requested a table. Luckily is wasn't too busy and the waiter was able to give them a table straight away. "Another thing I like about this place is they have huge portions," she informed them before adding in an almost conspiratorial whisper, "something I think sekirei would definitely appreciate."

A couple of growling stomach seemed to be answer enough but Kochou voiced her appreciation. "Your attention to our care is appreciated ashikabi."

Eliza shrugged it off as they sat down in a booth, hand still linked with Haihane's. Benitsubasa attempted to take the seat on the other side of her ashikabi but Akitsu managed to beat her too it, leaving the fist type grumbling next to her fellow ex-disciplinary squad member. Kochou smiled to herself slightly at the pouting and seated herself next to Akitsu, the safer seat.

They were given the menus and as the waiter took the drink orders and left, the teen thought perhaps she should try to mention the use of her title in public. "So girls, I know we're not exactly subtle as it is but perhaps maybe we could cut it down on the 'ashikabi' while we're around other people. I don't want to alert any other ashikabis to us or reveal anything to non-players, especially since I doubt MBI was joking about the punishment for revealing the game." She said quietly trying to explain her reasoning, especially to Akitsu who she felt was more attached to the title that the others, not being truly winged and all.

The two new sekirei seemed unsure about the request, Benitsubasa chiming in with, "We can take any ashikabi foolish enough to challenge us." While Haihane's grip on her hand seemed to get tighter despite the calm expression she held.

"That sounds like a wise decision ash-," Kochou agreed always the strategic and collected one but still caught herself tripping over the action of being unable to call her destined one by her title.

Akitsu nodded in understanding but chose not to voice any opinion, rather keeping her face to a neutral expression, one similar to the first time Eliza met her which hurt her heart to see.

Choosing to move on quickly before the atmosphere was completely ruined, the teen picked up a menu. "Well ladies, pick what you want and how much you want. This is all being charged to MBI so go nuts." She said with a grin at taking money from MBI's, while admittedly large, bank account.

The prospect of loads of food and the hunger the sekirei were feeling seemed to lift the mood back up at bit and the waiter was quickly called over for an extremely large order that took a couple of note pages to write down. Eliza asked him to stagger the dishes for otherwise she feared it wouldn't all fit on the table and they would have to do a balancing act of plates, which would most likely end up with her covered in food.

"So while we wait, I've got to ask." She said turning to the newest member of the group. "Am I really the reason you abandoned MBI and left the disciplinary squad?" She grinned slightly at the idea, liking the sound of one upping MBI and taking away such powerful sekirei despite the concern of repercussions it could lead to.

"You are by far the better ashikabi." Haihane said, grinning as well, glad she wasn't with that fool of an ashikabi Minaka picked out but rather with this amazing woman that made her feel stronger and loved already.

"Yeah!" The pink haired girl agreed enthusiastically. "The idiot Minaka chose was nothing compared to you, didn't even make us react. He was weak. You are far stronger and would have made a better disciplinary squad ashikabi." She boasted about her ashikabi's strength before realising she's used the A word and hoped the teen would forgive her.

Eliza blushed at the compliment and decided to ignore the slip up since no one seemed to notice and Benitsubasa looked like she'd realised her mistake.

"Very strong." Akitsu agreed, trying hard not the use the word herself, making Eliza kind of regret mentioning in the first place.

Smiling sincerely at her girls, Eliza just shook her head. "Wouldn't want to work for them though so it wouldn't have mattered if he offered me the position anyway." Leaning back in her seat, Eliza dropped her unclaimed hand to her lap while her other was still firmly grasped on the table. Fortunately Benitsubasa was too busy praising her to be angered by the sight and she knew her other two sekirei were pretty composed.

"You seemed to have might quite the impression from the first moment you met our new sisters." Kochou stated, probing slightly into the meeting of her ashikabi and the ex-MBI dogs.

"Er yeah must have."She responded, not particularly wanting to get into their first meet, here especially. It wasn't really the place to tell people you met while trying to escape from the security of one of the biggest companies in Tokyo. "I hope you girls weren't searching long but I do with I'd found you sooner, might have been able to avoid you getting injured entirely." She said, thinking that if she had winged them when she first met, they would not have had to run all over the city being chased and almost forcibly winged if they were caught.

Seeing the dark look in the red heads eyes, the sekirei quickly spoke up. "We hadn't finished our adjustments yet, you couldn't have found us sooner." Haihane responded seriously.

"You made those other sekirei run away like the coward they were, proving your strength! Making me even more proud to be your sekirei! So don't blame yourself, it was my fault I got injured." The fist type spoke passionately disliking her ashikabi blaming herself before muttering enduringly, "Idiot."

Eliza couldn't help but laugh at the idiot comment and before she could respond the first of the food arrived and talking was forsaken for eating. During all the food the teen never received her hand back from Haihane and had to eat one handed which was an interesting task with her burger and keeping the filling actually between the buns. The others dug in, Benitsubasa far more enthusiastic than the older sekirei and Haihane was also limited but one hand though it didn't slow her down.

The ashikabi finished a while before her sekirei and dropped back to her laid back position but not long after she did, she felt cold fingers entwine with her own and looked up to see Akitsu very focused on her food. Squeezing her hand and smiling when the ice sekirei turned to her she could have sworn she saw a blush when she received a small smile in return.

By the time they finished eating and paid the huge bill it was pretty late and the shops were mostly closed. Realising they couldn't go shopping now, Eliza apologised to Haihane and promised to take her game shopping another time, something the sekirei quickly agreed to, glad to already have a future date with her ashikabi. She decided to return the gauntlets once they were a little distance away from the diner, feeling safer with her sekirei armed especially since it was getting dark fairly quickly.

"I can't believe the time." She said looking at her watch and then her sekirei. "By the time we get home it will probably be a good idea to sleep. You all okay food wise since we'll technically won't be eating dinner?"

The other women nodded their affirmative to the question, have eaten all they could at the diner, surprised there was any food left in the restaurant afterwards.

* * *

The journey back to the flat was uneventful and the teasing and bickering of the two newest sekirei was even minimal, all women seemingly sated by full stomachs and were content to just be close to their ashikabi. When they reached the flat door, Eliza was unsurprised to see boxes labelled 104 and 105 sitting outside the door and directed the girls to store their stuff in the bedroom closest the bathroom.

As they went to do this, Eliza dropped the rucksack by the door and her phone and keys on the table by her ruined laptop. "How about you two get ready for bed and I'll get the other two settled in."

Akitsu nodded and voiced, "Very well ashikabi." Her lips tilting up briefly at being able to freely say ashikabi and headed to her bedroom.

Kochou waited awhile until Akitsu entered the room before turning to Eliza and moving into her personal space, leaning it. "You're pull it getting stronger and stronger." She said huskily and she pressed her body again the other woman. "It's going to be harder to share you when I haven't yet claimed you." She whispered into Eliza's ear, her meaning clear.

Swallowing loudly, her throat suddenly very dry all she could manage was a rough, "Bed."

Kochou grinned wickedly in response, raising an eyebrow. "We don't have to wait to reach the bed."

Chocking slightly, Eliza quickly added, "Go to bed. To sleep. As in bed to sleep." Her words rushed out and she knew her face was extremely red right now.

Kochou merely sighed dramatically, "If you wish." Before winking and sauntering of to the bedroom.

Letting out an audible breath, she took a minute to compose herself before heading to the room she had assigned her other sekirei. She knocked before entering and the door was instantly pulled open with concerning force. Benitsubasa stood at the door in her underwear and Eliza quickly shoot her gaze to the pink haired girl's face.

"Where's your clothes?" The fist type girl demanded, crossing her arms over her chest. "These wardrobes were empty."

"Er," She started taken aback, "In the other bedroom."

The smaller girl glared at her. "Why are we not in your bedroom. We are your sekirei, we should share your room and your bed." She stated, turning pink at the last statement but adamantly holding her ground.

"Well there's not much space for your stuff in my room, so I thought putting your clothes and such in here would be better." Eliza explained. "As for sleeping arrangements, well..." She sort of drifted of at the end shrugging.

Benitsubasa looked really downtrodden at the end of her ashikabi's statement and while she could only see the back of Haihane, who was looking through some boxes, she was pretty sure she looked the same.

She knew she couldn't not let them share her bed, for it would seem as if she favoured her other two sekirei over them which seemed a cruel thing for her to do and despite just meeting them she cared about them too. However before she could right the implied wrong, having never actually planned to force them to stay in the spare room, a oddly quiet voice beat her to it.

"I know I haven't got as big as boobs as your other sekirei," Benitsubasa mumbled.

Saddened by the comment, Eliza stepped forward and embraced the smaller girl. "Of course you'll be sharing my bed. It may be a tight squeeze with five of us but it's worth it. I only meant to give you the room for your stuff not to imply you weren't welcome in my, or really our, bedroom." Looking up from the hug she spotted Haihane was now facing her with a small smile on her face.

Finishing the hug, Benitsubasa rather reluctantly, Eliza told her to head to the bedroom in her pajamas but instead of turning to her boxes she walked straight into the other bedroom. Confused that she planned to sleep in her underwear, she shook her head and went other to also hug Haihane who thankfully had taken off her gauntlets while looking through her stuff.

After finishing the second hug and making sure Haihane was okay, Eliza went to the bathroom to clean up before bed, changing into the pajamas she had left there that morning. Once changed she dropped her dirty clothes into the laundry basket and went to go see if she could fit on her bed with four other women.

Upon entering and seeing all her sekirei on the bed waiting for her, she couldn't help but smile at the sight especially when she noticed all her sekirei had seemed to have taken up wearing her clothes to bed. Akitsu in the shirt and shorts she had given her on the first night; Kochou is the nightshirt she had claimed, Benitsubasa also only in one of her shirts since due to her size was pretty big on her and Haihane who was wearing some boxers Eliza had bought herself for bed and a tank top.

It felt right seeing them in her clothes and she couldn't believe how lucky she was to be bonded to four amazing women. Grinning like the idiot Benitsubasa called her, she made it over to the bed and found herself in the middle of a dog pile, one she oddly didn't mind being at the bottom of.

"Night ladies." She said bringing her arms around Akitsu and Kochou who had claimed her sides.

"Night ashikabi." A unison response came and everyone snuggled in for the night.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: I'm on a bit of a roll with writing a lot, I wouldn't expect another update this soon after the previous one as exams are coming up but you never know. I was thinking of waiting a while then posting this one but I didn't really want to wait around and not post it if I'd finished it and end up forgetting to post if I waited too long, so here it is, enjoy :)**

* * *

Eliza was surprised when she woke up feeling refreshed, oddly having felt relaxed and not plagued by anxieties that night but rather feeling contented. It had been a dreamless slumber, something she was very grateful for after the dreams she had been having. Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was a lot of pink. Blinking a few times at the brightness of the colour, her brain took a minute to register that the sight meant one of her latest sekirei had decided that sleeping on her chest was the most comfortable position to have. Eliza wiggled a bit and noticed her arms were very much claimed between two different set of breasts, along with one of her legs.

Needing to get up and knowing how Akitsu did not wake from nudging nor could the human stand any chance of forcibly removing herself from the bundle of limbs, she croaked out a "Hey girls." Her throat was dry and her voice came out a bit rough but after a few more croaks, she gained Akitsu's attention. The pink mass of hair just seem to snuggle in further into her chest.

"Morning ashikabi." She greeted sleepily, a small smile gracing her lips.

"Morning Akitsu," Eliza responded, unable to stop her returning smile. "Hey do you mind helping me out here, I need to use the bathroom but as you can see I'm kind of restrained to the bed at the moment." She joked and indicated to the other sekirei with her eyes.

Gazing at her sisters, Akitsu nodded before releasing her ashikabi's arm and kneeling on the bed. She stared for moment, thinking about how to unravel the tangled limbs before deciding to reach other and detach Kochou from Eliza's other arm, the physically weaker sekirei was unable to hold her grip and awoke at the lose of contact.

"Ashikabi?" She asked still drowsy from sleep and not yet regaining her usual composed self, Eliza thought it was adorable.

"Morning Kochou I'm just trying to get to the bathroom." She explained to which the older woman looked around to see if she could offer her assistance.

"You could try tickling their feet." She suggested, stretching out and moving off the bed for safety reasons.

Nodding Akitsu reached for Haihane's feet but as soon as cold fingers brushed the sole of her feet, the Gothic sekirei yelped and scrambled up and off the bed as if ready for an attack.

"Hey!" She yelled, glaring at the ice sekirei who returned a neutral expression.

"Sorry Haihane but I need to use the bathroom." Eliza tried to appease her.

Her glare softened at her ashikabi's words and mumbled, "My feet are very ticklish."

Smiling at her sekirei's confession, Eliza quickly let out a "No!" before Akitsu could tickle Benitsubasa. Explaining herself, "Seeing how badly Haihane reacted, I don't particularly was to be injured this early in the day." Now mostly free, the teen pushed herself up to a sitting position and the movement luckily rousing her sekirei slightly from her sleep, despite the noise earlier having no effect.

Red eyes blinked slowly up at her, a smile forming on her lips, before they went to close again.

"Hey Benitsubasa, it's time to get up." She said softly, shaking her gently when she went to tighten her grip and shook her head sleepily. "Come on, rise and shine." She said before adding, "Or at least let go so I can go to the bathroom."

Nodding at that deal, the fist type sekirei released her grip before rolling over onto the bed and curling back up to sleep.

Sighing in relief, Eliza made her way from the bed to the door and as she opened it, said over her shoulder, "We've got to get an easier waking up system than that or we'll never get anywhere on time, will be too busy trying to jenga ourselves out of bed." Chuckling to herself, the red head went to go get washed and dressed.

When she came out of the bathroom after her shower, she headed to her bedroom to grab some clothes, noting that there was a distinctly Benitsubasa shape still under the covers, sleeping soundly. Grabbing her clothes, she went to change into her usual style of jeans, top and hoodie in the other room to avoid waking her. Once dressed she entered the living room, noticing Kochou at the table but smelling food, she decided to head to the kitchen first. Inside Akitsu was cooking what seemed to be an English breakfast.

"Hey what you cooking?" Eliza asked to confirm her suspicions.

Turning from her task of frying eggs, Akitsu looked kind of shy as she responded, "Home cooked breakfast from ashikabi's home." She glanced quickly back at the eggs seeming nervous of her ashikabi's response before adding. "Kochou helped me find a recipe as I didn't know what type of food you meant by home cooking." She said even quieter.

Smiling softly, Eliza walked over to Akitsu. "It's lovely and a very thoughtful idea. Thank you." she said leaning up on her toes so she could kiss the ice sekirei on the cheek, causing a slight blush from the sekirei usual pale complexion. "And anyway home isn't a country it's being with people you care about. So right now that's here with you girls." She said with a smile while internally thinking, "First home I've had in a long time."

"There's also some coffee on the side." Akitsu added, indicating with her hand before focusing back on her task, seeming even more determined to not make a mistake.

Grabbing her coffee, she took a sip of the warm liquid as she left the kitchen and headed over to Kochou, not before noticing the time on the oven showing 1:35. They had really slept in, probably due to Eliza having hardly slept for the past few weeks and the full stomachs of her sekirei. Walking up to the table, she now noticed Kochou was fiddling with her laptop. Computer parts were scattered around the table and somehow the screen was now working despite the previous virus.

"Are you fixing it?" Eliza asked incredulously, "Can you fix it?"

Turning to raise a single eyebrow at her ashikabi while still typing at full speed, Eliza blushed slightly at the stupid question she'd asked. "Right information sekirei, sorry sometimes forget how brilliant you are. Keep thinking about you with human restrictions."

"Easy mistake ashikabi but I can do far more impressive things that fix a laptop." She stated confidently.

"I have no doubt about that." She grinned. "How long do you think this will take."

"Not long. Will be finished before breakfast."

"That's quick." She agreed before noticing the empty mug on the table. "Do you want another coffee?" She asked, taking a sip from her own.

"It was tea," she corrected but before Eliza could offer to get her that she quickly continued, "no thank you ashikabi, I am quite alright." She smiled quickly at her in thanks of the gesture.

"Well I'll leave you to it and go sit on the sofa, see if anything good is on the TV." She stood when Kochou nodded in response and went toward where she now saw Haihane was sitting on the floor in front of the TV. "You know it's not good to sit that close to the screen right? Though it might not really effect sekirei would you mind scooting a little so I could see what's going on?" Eliza asked as she dropped onto the sofa without spilling her coffee.

Seeing her ashikabi joining her, Haihane scrambled from the floor and came to cuddle up with the teen on the sofa, tucking her feet under her while Eliza instinctively raised her arm to accommodate the girl and pulled her into a one armed hug.

Turning her eyes to the TV after a brief moment of staring at the cute girl beside her, Eliza noticed Haihane had been watching the news. "Anything interesting happening in the world?" She asked her sekirei.

"Nope. There was no good programmes on so I've been watching the growth of the Forest. It looks Sekirei doing or MBI but I'm no longer in the loop." She mumbled into the red heads chest, still sounding a bit drowsy.

Reaching for the remote she saw grasped in one of the other girls bandaged hands, she turned the sound up to hear about the sudden growth of plant life in the city with apparently no explanation given. "That definitely has a Sekirei feel to it." She agreed, curious if this was another level to this messed up game and what Minaka was planning.

The two women watched the news for a bit before Akitsu called them for breakfast. Eliza considered going to wake up Benitsubasa but at the sound or perhaps smell of food, she was already coming out of the bedroom. Taking a seat next to Kochou with Haihane opposite her, Benitsubasa pulled a chair to the end of the table between her ashikabi and the blue sekirei. Akitsu served the breakfast and took the remaining seat next to Haihane. It took mere moments for everyone to dig in and despite the large portions, the meal did not last very long.

"That was delicious Akitsu, I really enjoyed it." Eliza praised as she leant back, stuffed.

"Thank you ashikabi." She responded, blushing slightly at the praise.

"It was very enjoyable." Kochou added. "It was also nice to share the cuisine you had before we met you ashikabi, it nice connection to your past."

Eliza smiled at that, she liked that her girls wanted to feel more connected to her and her life and if eating some English food with them helped then so be it. She would try to make more connections with them and hopefully learn more about them. However she would probably wish to learn about their dreams and wishes for the future because if their pasts were anything like Akitsu's hinted to, she knew it would only anger her more towards MBI and she might do something even more drastic.

Startled from her thoughts by the buzzing of her phone on the table, right where she left it, Kochou reached out and passed it to her. Luckily it wasn't a phone call, she didn't want to have to deal with that is front of her girls especially since she still hadn't explained everything. Also if it was a call, it would mean she was out of time. Opening the phone she saw a text:

__Attention all Ashikabis! Exciting news! There is an unwinged sekirei up for grabs! The Green girl has been released into the city and is just waiting for a lucky ashikabi to come and wing her! Now where to find her you may ask? Well I'm sure you've all noticed the new forest that's just popped up, unless you've been living under a rock! So head on over and be the first one to claim her! Don't be late or you'll miss all the fun. Enjoy my gift to you and use her to rise to the heavens!__

__Happy Hunting!__

__Game Master,__

__Minaka__

Eliza just stared at the text message before passing it to Kochou to read out, lost for words at what sick trick that crazy bastard was playing now.

"Well it makes sense if No.104 and 105 had finished their adjustments, it was only a matter of time before all sekirei were released into the city and the next stage starts." Kochou informed the group.

"She sounds like a child." Eliza found her voice but couldn't get it to work over a whisper but all her sekirei managed to hear. "He's offering up a child to every ashikabi out there in first comes first served style." She didn't know what to think, weren't there some lines you just didn't cross?

"No.108, Kusano." Kochou gave name to the child. "She'd be younger than Benitsubasa." There was a pause of silence after the information sekirei's statement.

"Are we going to help her ashikabi?" Akitsu's quiet voice broke the silence.

Eliza looked up to stare Akitsu dead in the eye with a serious expression. "Of course. I won't let anyone forcibly wing her." She flicked her eyes to the two youngest sekirei, "I won't let what someone tried to do to you, happen to her." The statement was said with such conviction that none of her sekirei argued. "So lets get ready then."

* * *

Once everyone was finished getting dressed and geared up, they left the flat, Eliza not wanting to waste time knowing it was take them a while to get to the forest since she didn't live near it and they would have to get the train. The teen didn't worry about being spotted by another ashikabi, hoping that her numbers would scare them off and if they were going to claim the girl for themselves she might want to engage them, at least to deter them.

While they were on the train, Eliza tried to strategize with her information sekirei. "Kochou can you get a map of the area around the forest, preferably a current one so we can see which part is most heavily guarded because all those helicopters are hinting a very heavy MBI presence."

"Of course ashikabi." She responded, pushing back her glasses before typing quickly into a hand held device she had detached from her massive array of computers.

"Also maybe try and avoid as many ashikabi and sekirei as possible." Eliza added.

"What? Why?" The fist type questioned furiously, "I can take them!" She boasted, wanting to show her ashikabi what she could do in a proper fight, where her opponents didn't run away.

"We're ex-disciplinary squad, we could easily tear through any sekirei who stands in our way." Haihane agreed.

Trying not to shudder at the image of tearing through a person, similar to the sight of ice skewering someone, a sight Eliza was still unable to wash from her mind or her conscience. "I'd rather not get into any unnecessary fights that would just slow us down. Our aim is the Green girl. It only matters if we get there first, otherwise it's too late." She reasoned, her sekirei calming that it wasn't the fact their ashikabi didn't have faith in their fighting skills but rather she was on a mission and was determined to succeed. "So any luck?" She directed the question at her non-fighting sekirei.

"There is an entrance as we approach near a construction sight which is fairly guarded but if we go around to the left," she pointed to the place on her map, "there's a blind spot between the two guard stations. We just need to jump this wall and we'll be in the forest without any interference from MBI security. However the greenery is too dense, I can't see anyone within so I can't say for sure if any ashikabi or sekirei are already there or where they would be."

Nodding at the new information, Eliza agreed, "It seems like the best way to approach. We'll just have to take our chances with whatever is waiting for us inside."

The other sekirei nodded at the plan, Benitsubasa looking pumped for whatever they would have to face, knowing she could beat any sekirei that got in the way of her ashikabi.

Once they got off the train and approached their entry point, they noticed the lack of people as they drew closer. It seemed MBI had made at least one wise choice and evacuated the area of non-players, which was safer for them but would mean the group would be easier to spot in the deserted streets and any face they saw would probably not be a friendly one. They attempted to stay to the back streets as much a possible, not wanted to be noticed before they'd even reached the wall.

As they were moving through the streets they heard the sound of thunder echoing across the concrete and Eliza just decided to hurry their pace, not wanting to get involved in any fight before they even reached the mass of plant growth. They came close to a few metres before the wall and a huge burst of fire could be seen shooting into the air on their right.

"Damn looks like we aren't the first." Eliza sighed. "I hope that fire just means they're fighting each other and slowing themselves down. If we're lucky we could get to the girl and out before they're done." She laughed to herself. "So realistically we're probably going to be seeing them in a bit. Be on the look out."

Her sekirei nodded in confirmation and they all approached the wall. While still not being designed for combat, being a sekirei Kochou could still jump over the way with relative ease but thankfully Eliza had Akitsu who picked her up and saw her safely over the wall.

"Thanks Akitsu, appreciate the lift, not sure if I could have made it over otherwise." The red head said, grinning at the feeling of smoothly jumping through the air, trusting she wouldn't be dropped.

"You're welcome ashikabi." She responded with a slight nod and Benitsubasa could be heard grumbling about size not strength in the background and Haihane jumping in to tease her about specific sizes of things.

Ignoring them, Eliza started heading into the forest, a perpendicular path to the wall, in hopes of finding the girl at the centre though she was not sure she would be able to find it, considering the plant growth was huge and overlapping everywhere, making it hard not to trip let alone see more than a few feet in front of them. The sekirei seemed to manage quite gracefully moving through the forest, the human on the other hand was lucky not to fall on her face.

They had only be walking for a few minutes when something caught Eliza's attention. "Does anyone else hear crying?" She asked unsure how she could hear the faint whimpering of a girl, too quiet to be far away. At the shake of all her sekirei's heads all she could think was, "Great I'm hearing things now, that can't be a good sign."

However before she could verbalise anything else a loud crash could be heard a from distance to their left and a massive gust of wind shook the leaves around them. "I'm assuming everyone heard that? Okay good. That seems to be the direction of a fight taking place. I'm assuming we plan to ignore all common sense and run towards the battle."

"If that is what you wish ashikabi." Akitsu said from her left side.

"Let's kick some butt!" Benitsubasa yelled pumping her fist.

"That would seem where all the fun is." Haihane grinned wickedly, flexing her claws.

"And it's most logically where the child is." Kochou added helpfully.

"Well this is why we came here, lets go." Eliza said before running off in the direction of the crash, hoping the kid was okay, that they weren't too late and foolishly hoping no one had to die today.

* * *

**AN: Also I haven't decided which sekirei I plan to add to the harem if any, so feel free to offer suggestion and I'll see how the story develops.**


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